Bulletin  No.  8— New  Series. 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

DIVISION  OF  ENTOMOLOGY. 


SOME  LITTLE-KNOWN 


INSECTS  AFFECTING  STORED  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS: 


A  COLLECTION  OF  ARTICLES  DETAILING  CERTAIN  ORIGINAL 
OBSERVATIONS  MADE  UPON  INSECTS  OF  THIS  CLASS. 


BY 


F.    H.    CHITTENDEN 
ASSISTANT  ENTOMOLOGIST. 


SttftW'  7u0rw>* 


WASHISTGTOX: 

aOTESNUENl   FEINTING   OFFICE. 

18<JT. 


DIVISION  OF  ENTOMOLOGY. 

Entomologist:  L.  O.  Howard. 

Assistant  Entomologists :  C.  L.  Marlatt,  Th.  Pergande,  F.  H.  Chittenden,  Frank  Benton. 

Investigators :  E.  A.  Schwarz,  H.  G.  Hubbard,  W.  H.  Ashmead,  D.  W.  Coquillett. 

Assistants:  E.  S.  Clifton,  Nathan  Banks,  F.  C.  Pratt. 

Artist :  Miss  L.  Sullivan. 


Bulletin  No.  8— New  Series. 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OE  AGRICULTURE. 

DIVISION  OF  i:\  fOMOLOGY. 


SOME  LITTLE-KNOWN 


INSECTS  AFFECTING  STORED  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS: 


A  COLLECTION  OF  ARTICLES  DETAILING  CERTAIN  ORIGINAL 
OBSERVATIONS  MADE  UPON  INSECTS  OF  THIS  CLASS. 


BY 


F.    H.    CHITTENDEN, 
ASSISTANT  ENTOMOLOGIST. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE, 

1  897. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


TJ.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Division  of  Entomology, 
Washington j  D.  (7.,  January  21,  1897. 
Sir:  I  transmit  herewith  the  manuscript  of  Bulletin  No.  8,  new 
series,  of  this  division.     It  consists  of  a  collection  of  accounts  of  obser- 
vations made  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Chittenden  in  the  progress  of  his  work  in  the 
preparation  of  a  complete  report  on  insects  affecting  stored  vegetable 
products,  and  its  publication  at  this  time  is  urged  on  account  of  the 
obvious  desirability  of  an  immediate  record  of  the  numerous  important 
observations  already  made,  as  more  fully  explained  in  the  preface. 
Bespectfully, 

L.  O.  Howard, 

Entomologist. 
Hon.  J.  Sterlino  Morton, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Preface  

A  Storehouse  Moth  new  to  the  United  States,  with  Notes  on  Other  5 

Species  (illustrated) 7 

The  Dried-Currant  Moth  (Ephestia  cahiritella  Zell.) 7 

The  Chocolate  Motli  (Ephestia  elutella  Hbn.) 9 

Storehouse  Moths  Liable  to  Introduction 9 

Notes  on  Grain  Beetles  of  the  Genus  Silvanus  (illustrated) 10 

Silvanus  bicornis  Er 10 

Silvanus  niercator  Faur 12 

Silvanus  gossypii  n.  sp 12 

Granivorous  and  other  Habits  of  certain  Der  me  stifle  (illustrated)  ..  14 

Attagenus  piceus  01 15 

Trogodenna  tarsal e  Mclsh 19 

Trogoderma  sternale  Jayne 21 

Anthrenus  verbasci  Linn 22 

General  Conclusions 23 

Weevils  that  Affect  the  Seed  oe  the  Cowpea  (illustrated) 21 

Economic  Literature 24 

The  Species  Compared 25 

The  Cowpea  Weevil 26 

The  Four-spotted  Bean  Weevil 27 

The  Common  Bean  Weevil  on  the  Cowpea 29 

1  m  \  elopment  of  the  Common  Bean  Weevii 29 

A  Little-known  Grain  Weevil  (Caulophilus  latinasus  Say) 30 

On  the  Occurrence  op  the  Grain  Moth  (Tinea  granella  L.)  in  America 31 

Early  accounts  of  Harris  and  Fitch 32 

Glover's  Grain  Moth 32 

Recent  Keports  of  Tinea  granella 33 

Unpublished  Records  of  the  Moth  in  America 34 

Species  likely  to  be  confused  with  Tinea  granella 35 

Conclusions 35 

An  Invas&n  of  tiii:  Coffee-bean  Weevil  (illustrated) 36 

Parasites  of  Flour  and  Meal  Moths  (illustrated) 38 

Parasites  of  the  Mediterranean  Flour  Moth 38 

Parasites  of  the  Indian-Meal  Moth 41 

Parasites  of  the  Meal  Snout-Moth 42 

List  of  Hosts  and  Their  Parasites 43 

A  Foreign  Parasite  of  the  Grain  Weevils 13 

:; 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Florida,  George  A.  Smathers  Libraries  with  support  from  LYRASIS  and  the  Sloan  Foundation 


http://archive.org/details/somelittleOOunit 


PREFACE. 


The  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  held  in  Chicago  in  1893,  served  as 
the  medium  of  importation  of  several  species  of  insects  of  then  imper- 
fectly known  distribution  and  habits,  and  incidentally  much  information 
was  gathered  from  the  collections  made  by  the  writer  in  the  foreign  agri- 
cultural exhibits  that  were  displayed  there.  Similarly  the  Cotton  States 
and  International  Exposition,  held  at  Atlanta,  (la.,  in  1895,  became  the 
means  by  which  knowledge  of  new  food  habits  and  habitat  for  a  few 
species  of  doubtful  or  unknown  habits  and  obscure  origin  has  been 
gained.  The  material  and  other  data  obtained  at  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition in  stored  products  served  as  an  impetus  to  the  investigation  of 
this  group  of  insects  and  the  living  specimens  in  their  food  material 
obtained  there,  augmented  by  additions  through  correspondence  and 
collections  made  in  the  city  of  Washington,  have  been  under  more  or 
less  continuous  observation  since.  Certain  of  the  preserved  material 
has  also  received  study,  in  connection  with  related  forms,  as  time  and 
opportunity  afforded. 

In  the  spring  of  1894  the  writer  was  directed  to  prepare  a  bulletin 
covering  the  subject  of  the  insects  affecting  stored  cereals.  At  the  out- 
set it  was  necessary,  as  a  preliminary  step,  to  properly  identify  the 
species  to  be  considered.  A  number  of  radical  changes  have  recently 
been  made  in  the  previously  accepted  nomenclature  of  these  insects, 
involving  the  separation  of  species  hitherto  considered  under  a  single 
name,  the  restoration  to  the  species  of  the  earliest  published  names, 
and  the  indication  of  synonyms. 

Since  its  original  inception  the  scope  of  the  work  has  been  enlarged 
to  include  insects  affecting  other  stored  products  than  cereals,  and  it 
has  been  thought  advisable  to  compile  as  complete  a  bibliographical 
list  of  important  references  to  each  species  as  can  lie  secured. 

The  preliminary  labor  involved  in  the  preparation  <>t*  such  a  work  lias 
consumed  much  time  and  is  still  in  progress.  It  comprises  the  perusal 
of  all  available  literature,  including  the  indexing  and  digesting  of  num- 
berless notes  and  articles,  mostly  scattered  through  periodicals  and  in 
many  languages:  the  procuring  of  living  specimens  for  rearing,  and 
observation  of  the  various  species  to  be  treated;  the  comparative 
study,  description,  and  illustration  of  these  species  in  all  their  various 
forms  from  egg  to  adult ;  the  rearing  and  identification  of  parasites :  the 
ascertainment  of  the  character  of  the  injury  of  the  different  species, 

5 


6 

their  range  of  food  habit   and  other  facts  in  their  life  history,  and 
various  other  points  of  value  and  interest. 

The  records  consulted  show  a  present  known  total  of  between  150  and 
200  species  of  insects  that  occur  more  or  less  frequently  and  normally 
in  stored  materials.  About  half  of  these  species  have  been  reared  and 
observed  at  this  office. 

Certain  of  the  more  interesting  and  lesser-known  forms  have  received 
mention  in  short  articles  and  notes  published  in  divisional  bulletins 
and  elsewhere,  and  the  commoner  species  have  been  treated  in  a  more 
popular  manner  in  three  articles,  prepared,  respectively,  for  the  Year- 
book of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  1894,  a  Bulletin  on  House- 
hold Insects  (Bull.  No.  4,  n.  s.,)  issued  by  this  Division,  and  a  Farmers' 
Bulletin  recently  published  by  the  Department,  making  a  total  of 
eleven  titles  of  publications  having  a  bearing  on  this  subject. 

The  conrpletion  of  a  more  comprehensive  bulletin  is  necessarily  of 
so  slow  accomplishment  that  it  has  been  thought  desirable  to  bring 
together  for  publication  a  portion  of  the  accumulated  information  on 
some  of  the  more  interesting  new  or  little-known  species.  This  matter 
is  presented  in  the  following  ten  articles,  prepared  in  a  somewhat 
more  popular  or  less  technical  style  than  will  be  pursued  in  the  more 
exhaustive  work  planned. 

The  different  injurious  species  here  considered  are  all  amenable  to  sim- 
ilar treatment,  and  for  the  benefit  of  such  as  may  not  be  fully  informed 
upon  this  subject  it  should  be  stated  that  a  consideration  of  methods  of 
control,  together  with  brief  accounts  of  eighteen  of  the  more  important 
species  affecting  stored  cereals,  prepared  by  the  writer  by  direction  of 
the  Assistant  Secretary,  has  recently  been  issued  as  Farmers'  Bulletin 
No.  45,  by  this  Department,  and  may  be  had  by  application  to  the 
Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

For  convenience  of  publication  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  group 
the  accounts  here  given  under  a  single  comprehensive  title.  Hence  it 
should  be  stated  for  bibliographical  purposes  that,  although  each 
account  is  not  signed  by  the  author,  each  should  be  indexed  separately, 
as  there  is  no  connection  between  the  different  articles.  Each  is,  to  a 
certain  extent,  complete  in  itself,  having  no  special  bearing  on  either 
what  precedes  or  follows  it  in  the  order  given. 

F.  H.  C. 


SOME  LITTLE-KNOWN  INSECTS  1FFECTING  STORED 
VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS. 


A  STOREHOUSE  MOTH  NEW  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES,  WITH  NOTES 

ON  OTHER  SPECIES. 

The  two  or  three  years  just  passed  are  notable  for  the  discovery  of  a 
number  of  new  insect  enemies  to  stored  products  of  a  vegetable  origin 
to  be  added  to  the  list  of  such  species  gathered  by  the  writer  at  the 
Columbian  Exposition  and  elsewhere  and  enumerated  in  the  pages  of 
Insect  Life  (Vol.  VI,  p.  U19,  etc. ;  VII,  p.  32G)  and  in  other  publications. 

THE    DKIED-CTJIIRANT   MOTH. 
{Ephesiia  cahiritella  Zell.) 

Among  other  species  obtained  at  both  the  Columbian  and  Cotton 
States  expositions,  and  brought  prominently  to  attention  by  the  mate- 
rial collected  at  Atlanta,  was  one  moth  of  the  family  Phycitidae  and 
genus  Ephestia  which  manifested  its  presence  by  the  work  of  its  larva 
in  nearly  every  exhibit  of  chocolate  nuts  or  cacao  beans.  Moths  were 
Hying  in  numbers  in  a  case  of  cacao  exhibited  by  Jamaica  at  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition,  and  a  series  of  specimens  of  these  and  from  Venezuela 
were  secured.  Specimens  were  also  obtained  from  these  two  countries 
at  the  Atlanta  Exposition. 

It  was  obviously  one  of  the  species  that  are  constantly  being  shipped 
to  this  country  from  abroad,  but,  as  no  food  material  for  it  other  than 
cacao  beans  was  known,  it  could  not  at  first' positively  be  said  to  be 
permanently  located  here,  although  such  was  surmised  to  be  the  case. 
The  almost  simultaneous  discovery  of  the  insect  at  Atlanta  and  in 
infested  material  from  Ohio  and  the  District  of  Columbia  led  to  its 
study  and  identification. 

The  specimens  bred  did  not  correspond  with  anything  in  the  National 
Museum,  nor  with  descriptions  of  any  species  known  to  occur  in  this 
country.  They  agreed  best  with  descriptions  of  Ephestia  cahiritella 
and  with  the  illustration  of  this  species  furnished  in  The  Entomologist 
of  1890  (pi.  1.  tig.  L2),  but  not  being  quite  satisfied  with  this  tentative 
identification  a  series  was  sent  to  Mr.  Edw.  Meyrick,  of  Marlborough 
College,  England,  who  1ms  done  special  work  in  tin-  PhycitidaB.  Prom 
him  word  has  been  received  to  the  effect  that  they  are  referable  to 

7 


8 


cahiritella,  and  that  the  specimens  sent  were  more  mixed  with  reddish 
than  is  usual. 

This  moth  was  first  described  by  Zeller  in  18G7  from  two  examples 
from  Cairo,  Egypt,  whence  the  specific  name  cahiritella.  It  was  subse- 
quently redescribed  by  Mr.  C.  G.  Barrett,  who  called  it  passulella  from 
its  occurence  in  the  so-called  Corinthian  raisins  or  currants  ("Passulw 
corinthiacw").  To  distinguish  it  from  other  species  that  infest  dried 
fruits,  it  may  be  called  after  Barrett's  Latin  name,  the  dried-currant 
moth. 

The  moth  looks  suspiciously  like  Ephestia  luehniella,  as  also  elutella, 
as  will  be  noticed  by  reference  to  the  illustration  (fig.  1,  a),  being 
of  a  similar  gray  color,  but  may  be  readily  distinguished  from  the 
former  by  the  strong  subdorsal  line  of  the  cilia  of  the  hind-wings.  The 
markings  of  the  fore-wings  are  much  more  suffused  than  in  the  other 
two  species  and  the  line  across  the  basal  third  is  whitish,  nearly  straight, 

and  bordered  by  a  promi- 


nent dark,  suffnsedband. 
In  the  others  this  line  is 
irregularly  dentate,  or 
zigzag.  The  wing  ex- 
panse is  14  to  20  mm. 

The  larva,  shown  at  c, 
also  resembles  that  of 
the  flour  moth,  exhibit- 
ing the  same  color  varia- 
tions, the  ground  hues 
ranging  from  dirty  whit- 
ish to  gray  or  yellowish, 
but  with  the  flesh  tints  so 
arranged  along  the  dor- 


^     cc 


od 


Fig.  1.— Ephestia  cahiritella:  a,  adult  moth ;  b,  venation  of  wings ; 
c,  larva — enlarged  about  twice ;  d,  eggs,  more  enlarged  (orig- 
inal). 


sum  as  to  produce,  with  the  piliferous  warts  which  are  larger  and  darker 
than  in  lcuehniella,  a  distinctly  striated  appearance  not  seen  in  the  latter 
species. 

In  October,  1895,  a  lot  of  flaxseed  meal  was  received  from  Mr.  H.  G. 
Wolfgang,  of  Calla,  Ohio,  that  was  badly  infested  with  the  larva  of  this 
insect,  and  during  the  winter  months  English  walnuts  and  figs  obtained 
of  various  local  merchants  and  street  venders  in  different  parts  of  the 
city  were  also  found  affected  by  it.  During  June,  189G,  the  chemist  of 
the  Department  transmitted  specimens  of  the  larvae  in  a  sample  of 
pearl  hominy  purchased  in  open  market  in  this  city.  It  contained  two 
larvae  spun  up  in  the  same  manner  as  is  the  custom  with  Ephestia  I'ueh- 
niella,  the  cocoon  thus  formed  looking  much  like  that  of  the  flour  moth. 
June  0  the  first  moth  issued,  and  at  about  the  same  time  larva1  were 
discovered  at  work  in  an  open  bottle  of  corn  meal  standing  on  my  office 
desk.  The  meal  had  been  used  for  observations  on  other  insects  and 
it  had  not  been  necessary  to  keep  it  covered.  I  then  recollected  having 
seen  in  this  bottle  of  meal  a  moth  of  this  species  which  had  escaped 


from  an  open  box  of  nuts.     Subsequently  the  moths  were  reared  in 
great  numbers,  this  accidental  evidence  of  the  cereal  feeding  habit  of 
the  species  proving  more  satisfactory  than  a  purely  artificial  experi 
inent  would  have  done. 

During  July  a  larva,  evidently  from  the  same  source  as  the  ones 
found  in  the  corn  meal,  was  discovered  at  work  in  a  small  box  of  dupli- 
cate moths.  It  had  ruined  seven  specimens  by  eating  away  their  abdo- 
mens and  in  some  cases  a  portion  of  the  wings.  In  the  rearing  jars  1 
had  previously  noticed  evidences  of  this  same  habit. 

It  is  yet  early  to  predict  the  future  of  this  moth.  From  its  partiality 
for  nuts  and  figs,  taken  with  the  fact  that  no  cases  of  severe  damage 
by  it  to  cereals  have  come  to  light,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  little 
apprehension  need  be  felt  of  its  becoming  so  serious  a  pest  as  the 
Mediterranean  flour  moth  in  flouring  mills  and  granaries,  in  spite  of 
appearances  which  indicate  that  it  is  perfectly  capable  of  becoming 
troublesome. 

THE    CHOCOLATE   MOTH. 

(Ephe8fia  ehitella  Hbn. ) 

The  habits  of  our  flour-  and  meal-feeding  phycitids,  Ephestia  lueh- 
niella  and  Plodia  interpunctella,  are  so  well  known  as  to  necessitate 
no.  further  comment  here,  but  there  is  still  a  fourth  moth  which, 
although  represented  in  our  faunal  list,  seems  never  to  have  received 
mention  as  an  injurious  species  in  this  country.  I  refer  to  Ephestia 
ehitella  Ilbn.  Its  habits  have  been  known  in  Europe  since  early  in  the 
last  century,  yet  so  far  as  I  know  at  present,  American  records  show 
nothing  positive  regarding  injuries. 

Reaumur's  account  of  the  moth  that  injures  chocolate,  published  iu 
1737,  is  generally  conceded  to  refer  to  the  present  species,  and  as  it  is 
this  species  that  is  most  often  associated  with  the  chocolate  nut  of 
commerce  it  may  be  called  the  chocolate  moth.  Eecent  study  of  bred 
material  shows  this  to  be  the  moth  mentioned  in  Insect  Life  (Vol.  IV, 
p.  3o2)  as  having  been  received  at  this  office  from  Mr.  II.  P.  Wickham, 
who  found  it  injurious  to  cayenne  pepper  in  one  of  the  drug  houses  at 
Iowa  City,  Iowa.  We  have  also  specimens  bred  from  dried  apples 
obtained  from  a  New  York  City  dealer  and  submitted  to  this  office  by 
the  Division  of  Chemistry,  and  others  from  cacao  beans  received  from 
Mr.  C.  A.  Barber,  who  obtained  them  from  Mbntserrat,  West  Indies. 
According  to  various  Kuropean  authorities  this  species  also  attacks 
manufactured  chocolate,  coffee,  and  various  dried  fruits,  and  even  does 
considerable  damage  to  ship  biscuit,  which  it  injures  after  the4  manner 
of  E.  Jcuehniella. 

STOREHOUSE   MOTHS    LIABLE    TO    INTBODUOTION. 

In  this  same  family  Phycitidse,  as  also  in  the  GalleriidflB,  are  several 
other  moths  which,  like  the  preceding  species,  are  undoubtedly  often 
brought  into  the  United  States  in  shipments  of  dried  fruits  and  similar 


10 

merchandise.  They  are  well  known  in  England  and  elsewhere  in 
Europe  where  they  have  been  introduced,  and  they  are  liable  to  intro- 
duction into  this  country;  if  indeed,  as  seems  probable,  some  of  them 
are  not  already  with  us. 

Ephestia  fie  a  lei  la  Ban*. — Of  these  species  the  present  one  may  appro- 
priately be  mentioned  first.  It  has  not  yet  been  placed  on  our  lists,  but 
there  is  a  published  record  of  its  introduction  with  cahiritella  at  Lynn, 
England,  in  cotton  cake  shipped  from  Galveston  Tex.  (Ent.  Mo.  Mag., 
Vol.  XX,  p.  258).  It  receives  its  name  from  its  depredations  upon 
dried  figs  (Ficus)  and  is  also  partial  to  currants.  This  is  the  species 
mentioned  on  pages  141  and  350,  Vol.  Y  of  Insect  Life,  as  occurring  in 
oatmeal  at  Kingston,  Jamaica,  desuetella  Walk,  being  considered  a  some- 
what doubtful  synonym. 

Epliestia  calidella  Gn.  is  another  species  of  this  genus  that  feeds  on 
dried  figs,  raisins,  and  currants. 

Ephestia  ( %)  sp. — The  larva  of  a  phycitid  resembling  Ephestia,  but 
differing  from  any  known  to  me,  was  found  by  Mr.  0.  L.  Marlatt,  of  this 
division,  in  pressed  figs  in  this  city,  November  21,  1895,  but  unfortu- 
nately the  adult  moth  could  not  be  reared. 

Certain  other  species  of  Ephestia,  in  addition  to  those  mentioned 
above,  have  been  described,  and  as  they  have  been  said  to  have  similar 
habits,  it  may  save  trouble  to  state  that  of  these  semirufa  Haw.  and 
roxhurghii  Gregs.  are  now  recognized  as  being  synonymous  with  elutella, 
while  ficella  Dgl.  and  xanthotricha  Staud.  occupy  the  same  relation 
toward  calidella. 

Myelois  ceratonice  Zell.  is  without  much  doubt  the  species  taken  at 
the  Columbian  Exposition  in  a  box  containing  the  seed  pods  of  St. 
John's  bread  (Ceratonia  siliqua)  exhibited  by  the  Spanish  colonies.  It 
derives  its  name  from  its  habit  of  feeding  upon  this  plant  and  is  known 
also  to  attack  dried  dates. 

A  galleriid  moth  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  viz,  Cor- 
cyra  cephalonica  Stn.,  which  occurs  in  fruit  warehouses  in  Europe,  living 
on  dried  currants. 

NOTES  ON  GRAIN  BEETLES  OF  THE  GENUS  SILVANUS. 

SlLVANUS   BICORNIS   Er. 

Our  common  saw-toothed  grain  beetle,  Silvanns  surinamensis  Linn., 
was  first  described  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  Ninety  years 
later,  in  1818,  W.  F.  Erichson  separated  it  from  another  species  which 
he  described  as  bicornis.  From  that  time  till  the  present  the  validity 
of  this  species  has  been  questioned.  Without  entering  upon  a  discus- 
sion of  the  subject  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  Erichson7s  bicornis  has 
been,  and  perhaps  still  is,  regarded  by  certain  writers  as  the  male  of 
surinamensis.  However  that  may  be,  M.  F.  Guillebeau  considers  it  a 
good  species  (lievue  d'Entomologie,  Vol.  IX,  p.  221),  and  quite  recently 


11 


we  have  obtained  a  specimen  identified  by  Mr.  Kdm.  Reitter  as  bicomis 
Er.  Judging  alone  by  tliis  single  example  and  the  fact  thai  i  have 
examined  fully  three  hundred  individuals  of  Silvanus  with  saw-toothed 
thorax,  brought  together  for  the  purpose,  without  finding  anything  even 
approaching  it,  I  am  much  inclined  to  believe  that  this  specimen  is  not 
;i  male  of  surinamensis^  but  whether  or  not  it  is  the  true  bicomis  of 
Erich  son  someone  having  access  to  the  original  description  or  the 
types  may  decide. 

Judging  by  M.  Guillebeau's  description  and  our  single  specimen, 
bicomis  differs  from  surinamensis  chiefly  by  the  side  margins  of  the 
front  in  the  male  being  more  strongly  reflexed,  forming  on  each  side  a 
prominent  horn,  and  by  the  scutellum  being  at  leas'  three  times  as  wide 
as  long  and  scarcely  rounded  behind.  In  surina- 
mensis these  retiexed  portions  of  the  front  are  of 
decidedly  different  appearance,  and  can  hardly  be 
termed  horns.  The  scutellum  is  less  than  twice  as 
wide  as  long  and  distinctly  rounded  behind.  In  the 
male  before  me  the  horns  are  very  thin,  much  flat- 
tened, and  concave  dorsally,  like  the  pointed  ears  of 
some  mammals  in  outline,  and  distinctly  incurved  at 
the  apex.  (See  fig.  2.)  This  male  measures  3  mm., 
or  about  as  long  as  the  largest  surinamensis. 

Erichson  described  his  species  from  Tyrol  and 
Sicily.  Our  specimen  is  from  Kaifa,  Syria.  M.  (iiiillebeau  states  that 
this  species  is  extensively  distributed  in  France,  and  that  it  was  taken 
in  wheat  granaries  at  Orleans,  and  in  a  dried  fig  at  Lyons,  showing- 
it  to  have  similar  feeding  habits  to  surinamensis.  It  would  naturally 
be  called  the  two-horned  grain  beetle. 

In  more  recent  years  several  other  species  of  Silvanus  of  (lie  surina- 
mensis group  have  been  discovered. 

The  first  of  these  is  denticollis,  described  by  Reitter  in  187G,  from 
Ceylon  (Harold's  Coleopterologische  Hefte,  Vol.  XV,  p.  56).  It  differs 
from  all  other  known  species  of  this  group  in  having  the  head  without 
tempora  and  the  disc  of  the  thorax  without  sulci. 

In  1889  M.  A.  Fauvel  described  mercator  from  France,  "  Africa,'*  and 
New  Caledonia.     (Revue  d'Entomologie,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  132.) 

The  following  year  M.  Guillebeau  brought  together  in  synoptic  form 
all  the  above-mentioned  species,  with  abeillei,  described  as  new  from 
Palestine  (1.  c,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  220-224)  and  later  in  the  same  year  Reitter 
also  furnished  ;i  synopsis  of  these  species,  describing  fauveli  from 
Syria.    (Wiener  fint.  Ztg.,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  255-250.) 


Fig.  2.— Silvanus  bicor- 
nit— enlarged  (origi- 
nal). 


12 


SlLVANUS   MERCATOR   FauV. 


Fig.  3.—Silvanus  mer- 
cator :  head,  and  tho- 
rax— enlarged  ;  an- 
tenna at  right— more 
enlarged  (original). 


When  M.  Fauvel  described  this  species  he  remarked  that  it  ought  to 
be  equally  cosmopolitan  with  surinamensis,  ergo,  it  ought  to  be  found 
in  North  America.  It  remained  unrecognized  here,  however,  until  the 
present  year.  At  the  Columbian  Exposition  I  col- 
lected examples  from  Venezuela,  Liberia,  and  Italy; 
from  the  Atlanta  Exposition  were  obtained  specimens 
from  Venezuela,  and  quite  recently  the  species  was 
received  in  a  lot  of  ground  flaxseed  from  Calla,  Ohio. 
There  are  in  the  National  Museum  collection  speci- 
mens from  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and  from  Astoria,  111., 
and  I  have  now  living  material  from  an  unknown 
source,  but  taken  at  Washington,  D.  C.  I  have  also 
seen  specimens  from  Lower  California  and  Arizona. 

The  close  relationship  of  mercator  to  our  common 
saw-toothed  grain  beetle  makes  reasonably  certain 
their  virtual  identity  as  regards  development,  nor  is 
it  probable  that  they  differ  in  any  degree  in  food 
habits.  The  former  has  been  found  in  France,  according  to  M.  Guille- 
beau,  in  the  debris  of  peanuts,  in  granaries  of  wheat,  and  under  bark 
of  sycamore  in  the  vicinity  of  mills.  In  the  writer's 
own  experience  it  breeds  also  in  almonds,  English  wal- 
nuts, corn  meal  and  the  fruit  of  the  exotic  plants  Myros- 
permum  frutescens  and  Aleurites  triloba.  The  Illinois 
material  was  breeding  in  dried  currants. 

8.  mercator  differs  from  surinamensis  chiefly  by  the 
much  narrower  tuberculiform  tempora  and  in  having 
the  head  and  trochanters  in  the  male  unarmed.  The 
accompanying  illustration  (fig.  3)  will  serve  as  a  further 
means  for  its  identification  if  compared  with  fig.  4. 
To  distinguish  this  species  from  related  forms  I  sug- 
gest the  name  merchant  grain  beetle,  the  specific  name 
being  a  translation  of  the  Latin  mercator. 


SlLVANUS   GOSSYPII  n.sp. 

The  search  for  Mcornis  and  mercator  led  to  the  dis- 


FlG.  4.— Silvanus  Sur- 
inam en  sis:  beetle- 
enlarged     (author's 

covery  of  a  species  not  mentioned  in  Guillebeau's  or  illustration). 
Keitter's  papers  on  this  group,  and  so  far  as  I  can  learn 
it  is  new  to  science.  This  resembles  surinamensis  superficially,  though 
it  is  smaller  and  is  conspicuous  by  the  structure  of  the  antennae.  The 
penultimate  and  the  antepenultimate  joints  are  nearly  twice  as  wide  as 
long,  and  in  the  three  specimens  in  hand — probably  males — the  head, 
femora,  and  trochanters  arc  unarmed.  It  is  of  similar  color  to  other 
species  of  this  group,  its  dense  covering  of  long  yellowish  pubescence 
giving  it  a  fulvous  appearance.     A  technical  description  follows. 


13 

Silvanus  gossypii  n.  sp. 
General  appearance  of  surinamensis,  but  smaller  and  slenderer,  differing  markedly 

in  several  particulars.  Color  of  the  head  and  prothorax  chocolate  brown,  elytra 
cinnamon  brown;  cDtiro  surface  opaque,  densely  covered  with  long  yellow  pubes- 
cence producing  a  fulvous  appearance. 

Head  at  least  as  wide  as  long,  sometimes  very  slightly  wider,  narrowing  anteriorly 
nearly  as  in  surinamensis;  side  margins  of  front  not  prominent,  very  little  reflexed; 
tempora  of  medium  size,  equal  to  one-third  the  diameter  of  the  eye,  conically  promi- 
nent, somewhat  variable,  hut  with  the  lateral  margin  usually  straight,  rounded  a1  the 
extreme  apex.  Eyes  not  prominent,  but  proportionately  slightly  larger  than  msvrina- 
mensis,  of  about  the  same  width  across  as  at  the  tempora,  rather  finely  granulate. 

Antenna-  with  well-defined  club;  first  joint  as  in  surinamensis;  joints  2  to  8  strongly 
rounded;  joints  2  and  3  not  very  much  longer  than  wide;  joints  3  and  4  nearly 
globular,  5,  6,  and  7  just  perceptibly  wider  than  long.  First  and  second  jointsof 
club  broadly  perfoliate,  the  first  about  one  and  three-fourths  wider  than  long,  nearly 
as  wide  as  terminal  one,  the  second  widest,  nearly  twice  as  wide 
as  long,  terminal  one  about  as  wide  as  long,  conically  produced 
at  apex. 

Prothorax  comparatively  feebly  sexdentate;  anterior  teeth 
perceptibly  hut  not  conspicuously  more  prominent  than  the  sec- 
ond pair,  only  moderately  acute,  sometimes  rounded  apically; 
hasal  teeth  noticeably  inconspicuous,  not  produced  farther  at 
the  sides  than  the  preceding  pair .  Dorsal  sulci  rather  shallow, 
the  median  ones  about  one  and  one-half  times  wider  than  the  Fig.  5.— Silvanus  gos- 
lateral  ones.     Lateral  carina'  suhparallel,  slightly  arcuate    at        syjni:  head  and  tho- 

each  end  toward  the  median  line.  .  ,    ' 

tenna  at  right— more 

Elytra  nearly  three  and  a  half  times  as  long  as  wide,  sub-  enlarged  (original). 
parallel,    rounded    posteriorly,    comparatively   finely   hut   not 

deeply  striate-punctate,  intervals  not  noticeably  prominent;  ventral  surface  very 
finely  pubescent,  abdomen  rather  densely  pubescent,  otherwise  nearly  as  in  surina- 
mensis. Scutellum  very  minute,  obscure,  hut  apparently  more  than  twice  as  wide  as 
long,  and  produced  posteriorly  at  the  middle.  Femora  only  moderately  rohust,  with 
no  visible  teeth;  trochanters  also  mutic. 

Length,  2.1  mm. ;  width,  0.5  mm. 

Described  from  three  individuals,  of  unknown  sex,  but  probably 
males,  received  at  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C, 
in  November,  1893,  in  cotton  seed  from  India.  Types  in  the  Tinted 
States  National  Museum. 

The  type  specimens  were  all  in  perfect  condition  when  found,  which 
would  appear  to  indicate  that  they  were  living  when  received  at  this 
Department. 

This  species  is  undoubtedly  exotic,  and  probably  not  yet  introduced 
in  this  country.  From  what  we  know  of  related  forms  it  is  fairly 
positive  that  it  was  breeding  in  the  cotton  seed,  and  that,  like  insects 
of  related  habits,  it  is  capable  of  living  upon  cereal  and  other  seeds  in 
similar  manner.  It  would  perhaps  be  premature  to  place  it  in  our  list 
of  species  inhabiting  America  north  of  Mexico,  although  its  title  to  be 
so  listed  is  stronger  than  that  of  other  species  that  might  be  mentioned. 
(Seewriter's  remarks  on  Calandra  linearis  et  al.,  in  Insect  Life,  Vol.  VII, 
p.  332.) 


14 
GRANIVOROTJS  AND   OTHER   HABITS  OF  CERTAIN   DERMESTID.E. 

At  the  Springfield  meeting  of*  the  Association  of  Economic  Entomol- 
ogists held  in  August  of  1895,  a  paper  by  the  writer  on  the  herbivorous 
habits  of  certain  Dermestida3  was  read,  but  it  being  desirable  to  com- 
plete certain  experiments  that  were  then  only  begun,  as  well  as  to  con- 
sult available  literature  on  the  subject,  only  a  brief  abstract  of  the 
original  article  was  furnished  for  publication  with  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Association  (see  Bull.  No.  2,  n.  s.,  p.  36).  The  paper  which  is  now 
presented  includes  such  additional  information  as  has  been  accumu- 
lated since. 

The  family  Dermestidse  is  so  well  known  to  all  naturalists  that  the 
name  has  become  almost  a  household  word.  Cyclopaedias  and  text- 
books inform  us  that  the  members  of  this  family  feed  upon  dried  animal 
substances.  The  depredations  of  certain  species  on  leather,  hides,  and 
dried  meats;  of  others  on  carpets,  furs,  aud  woollen  goods;  and  of  still 
others  on  dried  insects,  and  other  "objects  of  natural  history"  are, 
unfortunately,  too  well  known  to  require  further  comment.  Only  occa- 
sionally do  we  find  reference  in  American  literature  to  damage  to  other 
than  animal  matter.  The  native  Byturus  unicolor  and  the  European 
B.  tomentosus  are  injurious  to  the  buds  and  fruit  of  the  raspberry  and 
other  Rosacea^  Dermestes  vulpinus  is  often,  and  J),  lardarius  occasion- 
ally, reported  as  injuring  cork,  wood,  and  even  tobacco,  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  larvae  feed  upon  these  substances,  but  merely 
burrow  into  them  for  pupation.1  Attagenus  pellio  is  known  to  feed  on 
both  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  the  latter  including  dried  plants  in 
herbaria;  Anthrenus  scrophularice  is  said  to  have  similar  habits,  and 
Anthrenus  variiis~Fafo.  (=  verbasci  Linn.)  has  quite  recently  been  charged 
with  attacking  a  dried  medicinal  plant.2 

More  important,  however,  than  any  of  these  records  is  that  cited  by 
Mr.  E.  G.  Cotes,  of  an  East  Indian  dermestid,  JEthriostoma  unduktta 
Motsch.,  the  larva  of  which  is  averred  to  destroy  6  or  7  per  cent  of  the 
wheat  that  is  stored  in  go-downs  in  the  Delhi  market  (Indian  Museum 
Notes,  1894,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  119,  et  seq.).  This  insect  was  first  mentioned 
as  a  species  ot  Trogoderma,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  is  the  same 
that  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Douglas  before  the  Entomological 
Society  of  London  in  I860  (Trans.,  Vol.  V,  n.  s.,  p.  113)  as  having  damaged 
rice  imported  from  Akyab,  East  India. 

These  are  mostly  foreign  references.  Until  within  very  recent  years  I 
do  not  think  it  had  ever  been  suspected  that  any  of  our  several  household 
dermestids  would  live  in  the  larval  condition  upon  vegetable  substances. 


'L'Herminier  gives  an  jiccount  of  damage  to  books  by  what  be  calls  Dermestes  chinensis 
(Ann.  Soc.  Ent.  Fr.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  499),  but  the  real  author  of  the  damage  was  not  posi- 
f ively  identified  and  might  have  been  Sitodrepa  panicea  or  an  allied  ptinid. 

-To  this  list  must  be  added  Trogoderma  ontatnm,  which  I  find  since  preparing  this 
article  has  been  observed  by  Prof.  D.  S.  Kellicott  eating  grains  of  dry  pop-corn  (Proc. 
Columbus  Ilort.  Soc,  Vol.  IX,  p.  12,  Apr.,  1894). 


15 

Recent  observations,  however,  prove  that  at  least  four  common  species 
have  vegetarian  proclivities.  The  species  in  question  are  Attagenus 
piceus,  or  black  carpet  beetle:  Trogoderma  tarsale,  one  of  our  worst 
cabinet  pests;  Trogoderma  sternale,  and  our  common  Anthrenus  verbasci. 
The  adults  of  certain  of  the  Dermestidae,  it  is  true,  are  pollen  feeders, 
but  no  significance  attaches  to  this,  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  ad  nit 
food  habit  of  an  insect  is  not  necessarily  an  index  to  the  habits  of 
its  larva.  I  need  only  mention  among  Ooleoptera  the  families  of  the 
Carabidae  and  Cleridae,  the  larvae  of  which  are  predaceous,  and  yet  cer- 
tain genera  feed  upon  pollen  in  their  adult  condition.  Certain  of  the 
wood-boring  Scarabaeidae,  Buprestidae,  and  ( Jerambycidae  also  are  pollen- 
feeders  as  adults,  while  numerous  instances  could  be  cited  among  other 
families  of  Coleoptera  where  the  adults  eat  pollen  and  the  larva'  have 
totally  different  habits. 

Attagenus  piceus  Ol. 

The  larva  of  Attagenus  piceus  was  received  at  this  otliee  September 
20,  1894,  in  wheat  and  flour  from  a  milling  firm  of  central  Indiana.  In 
the  same  lot  were  several  well  known  grain  insects  and  it  was  thought 
at  the  time  that  the  dermestid  was  merely  attracted  by  the  dead  bodies 
of  the  purely  grain  feeders.  In  the  following  spring  it  was  found  in 
"middlings"  in  several  mills  and  feed  stores  of  this  city,  invariably 
with  other  insects  and  often  with  bits  of  sacking,  feathers,  and  similar 
material. 

I  have  in  remembrance  the  finding  of  this  and  other  dermestids  in 
like  situations,  and  many  who  read  this  can  no  doubt  recall  a  similar 
experience,  as  well  as  that  such  occurences  incited  no  further  thought 
at  the  time  than  that  in  accordance  with  our  accepted  opinion  of  their 
habits  they  were  feeding  upon  the  dead  insects  or  other  animal  matter 
that  was  almost  invariably  to  be  found  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  if 
searched  for. 

Finally  this  insect  was  brought  to  my  attention  in  such  manner  as  to 
lead  to  the  suspicion — despite  traditional  beliefs  that  the  household 
Dermestida*  were  strictly  carnivorous  and  that  the  only  appropriate 
habitat  of  this  particular  species  were  under  carpets — that  it  might 
feed,  at  least  occasionally,  on  vegetable  substances.  One  lot  of  mid- 
dlings contained  a  flour  beetle  that  was  desired  for  breeding,  and  to 
capture  a  sufficient  number  of  these  for  the  purpose  little  boxes  of 
meal  were  placed  with  this  material  as  traps.  The  desired  beetles  were 
entrapped  in  this  way,  but  an  equal  number  of  Attagenus  larvae  were  also 
taken.  Next  an  Attagenus  larva  and  afterwards  an  adult  were  found 
that  had  been  attracted  to  spillings  of  corn  meal  left  overnight  on  my 
office  table.  I  was  now  satisfied  that  the  Larvae  fed  upon  meal,  but  was 
it  possible  that  the  insect  could  actually  breed  in  it  I 

The  larva  bred  from  the  egg  in  flour  ami  meal. — To  settle  the  question, 
a  few  beetles  were  captured  on  the  window-panes  of  the  Department 


16 

building  and  confined  June  12  in  a  bottle  with  a  small  quantity  of  flour 
and  meal.  In  a  week  or  so  the  larv;e  could  be  seen  at  work  through 
the  glass.  In  five  weeks  they  had  reached  the  length  of  nearly  a  tenth 
of  an  inch,  and  August  20,  or  about  ten  weeks  from  the  time  of  the  eggs 
being  laid,  the  larger  individuals  had  grown  to  be  two-tenths  of  an 
inch  (5  mm.)  long  exclusive  of  the  anal  tuft,  or  over  half  the  length  of 
the  full-grown  larva.  Four  weeks  later,  September  21,  they  measured 
three-tenths  inch  (7.5  mm.).  No  perceptible  increase  in  size,  except  a 
possible  broadening  toward  the  head,  could  be  detected  in  the  largest 
individuals  October  30. 

The  dead  bodies  of  the  parent  beetles,  eight  in  number,  were  removed 
about  five  weeks  from  the  time  that  they  had  been  originally  placed 
there.  To  my  surprise,  they  had  been  scarcely  injured — two  had  been 
decapitated  and  one  had  lost  its  abdomen — an  evidence  of  a  preference 
on  the  part  of  the  larva  for  a  farinaceous  diet. 

I  have  also  numbers  of  more  mature  larvae  feeding  on  flour,  meal, 
timothy  seed,  grain,  etc. 

During  the  summer  of  1894  the  writer  obtained  a  number  of  samples 
of  infested  seeds  and  other  products  from  the  museum  of  this  Depart- 
ment, in  one  of  which,  consisting  of  timothy  seed,  many  larvae  of 
Attagenus  piceus  could  plainly  be  seen.  The  seed  was  poured  into  a 
jar  and  with  many  others  set  aside  for  future  observation.  About  a 
year  later,  when  examined,  the  upper  surface  of  this  jar,  which  holds 
a  little  less  than  a  gallon,  was  fairly  covered  with  the  cast  skins  of  the 
larvae.  A  few  dead  beetles  were  found  and  the  peculiar  cast  skins  of 
the  last  molt  which  remain  about  the  anal  extremity  of  the  pupa  could 
be  counted  by  the  score.  The  larvae  were  in  the  greatest  abundance 
near  the  surface,  no  less  than  thirty-two  individuals  being  taken  from  a 
half  pint  of  the  surface  layer  and  a  few  were  found  even  at  the  bottom. 

Too  late  in  the  season  for  experiment  with  a  view  to  the  discovery  if 
the  larvae  would  breed  ab  ovo  in  the  substances  in  which  they  occurred, 
living  specimens  were  found  in  pumpkin  seeds  and  in  millet  that  had 
previously  harbored  the  Indian-meal  moth,  and  many  cast  larval  skins 
in  the  herb  sweet  marjoram  (Origanum  majorana),  which  had  also  been 
infested  with  some  lepidopteron. 

Injury  to  bolting  cloth. — While  on  the  subject  of  herbivorous  food 
habits  of  this  species,  I  take  occasion  to  add  a  few  notes  on  a  new  habit 
and  consequent  new  source  of  damage  from  it.  During  June  of  the 
present  year  word  was  received  from  a  miller  in  Georgetown,  D.  0., 
that  much  trouble  was  being  caused  at  his  mill  by  an  insect  which 
injured  his  bolting  cloth.  This  injury  was  attributed  to  Tenebroides 
mauritanicusj  specimens  of  which  were  brought  for  determination.  It 
was  said  that  the  insect  cut  the  cloth  even  when  the  machinery  was  in 
operation,  and  that  it  had  been  at  work  for  several  years  and  caused  more 
trouble  than  all  the  other  insects  in  this  mill.  The  miller  was  informed 
that  the  real  author  of  the  mischief  was  probably  the  larva  of  Attagenus 


17 

piceus,  specimens  of  which  were  found,  together  with  the  adult  Tene- 
broides, in  the  rolls  of  bolting  cloth  and  crawling  about  on  bags  and 

sacking.  To  support  this  statement  with  tacts,  an  experiment  was 
conducted  as  follows: 

A  bit  of  perfect  bolting  cloth  three  inches  square  was  placed  in  ajar 
of  grain  and  meal  containing  about  a  do/en  adult  Tenebroides, covered 

with  the  grain  and  meal,  and  left  there  for  seventeen  days.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  the  cloth  was  taken  out  with  four  Tenebroides  beetles 
clinging  to  it,  and  although  its  meshes  were  partly  closed  by  flour  it 
was  as  sound  as  when  placed  in  the  jar.  A  similar  piece  of  uninjured 
bolting  cloth  was  put  into  a  jar  also  containing  flour  and  meal  and 
about  half  as  many  half-grown  larvae  of  Attagenus,  and  in  seventeen 
days,  although  only  two  larva'  were  found  upon  it,  it  contained  no  less 
than  twenty-eight  small  holes,  one  of  them  an  eighth  of  an  inch  square. 

Bolting  cloth,  as  is  well  known,  is  the  finest  quality  ami  most  expen- 
sive silk  fabric  made,  and  the  inroads  of  the  Attagenus  larvae  necessi- 
tate almost  constant  mending  and  replacement  with  new  cloth.  I  have 
learned  from  at  least  three  residents  of  this  city  that  damage  to  bolt 
ing  cloth  of  this  nature  has  been  noticed  here  and  elsewhere  for  the 
past  half  century;  also  that  this  injury  has  been  rather  generally  laid 
to  the  account  of  Tenebroides,  which  is  known  in  some  localities  as  the 
bolting-cloth  beetle.  Such  a  habit  would  be  at  variance  with  what  is 
known  of  this  insect,  either  as  larva  or  beetle,  and  until  positive  proof 
is  produced  that  it  is  the  true  culprit  I  can  only  conjecture  as  reason 
for  the  belief  the  fact  that  the  Tenebroides  is  the  commoner,  the  larger, 
and  the  more  conspicuous  insect. 

Brief  history  of  the  species  in  America. — Looking  back  over  the 
records,  I  find  that  this  species  was  recognized  in  America  as  early  as 
1806,  mentioned  as  abundant  in  houses  in  1854,  as  injurious  to  feathers 
in  18GG,  to  insect  collections  in  1878,  and  to  carpets  in  1879.  As  a 
carpet  pest  it  attracts  most  attention,  but  has  also  been  reported  as 
injuring  hair-cloth  furniture,  and  has  been  accused  of  doing  damage  to 
lace  curtains.  I  quite  agree  with  Dr.  Lintner,  who  remarks  of  this 
insect  in  this  last  connection  (Second  Kept.  St.  Ent.  X.  V.,  188,">.  p.  47): 
"If  this  suspicion  is  hereafter  confirmed  and  its  range  of  food  found  to 
embrace  hair,  furs,  cotton,  linen,  and  wool,  then  it  is  unquestionably  a 
pest  more  to  be  dreaded  in  our  homes  than  the  rapacious  and  destruc- 
tive carpet  beetle,"  and  particularly  as  flour  and  meal,  seeds,  and  silk. 
not  to  mention  feathers,  leather,  dried  insects  and  probably  many  other 
preserved  animal  and  vegetable  substances  are  now  to  be  added  to  its 
provision  list. 

This  notice  is  by  no  means  the  only  one  of  the  occurrence  of  this 
species  in  cereals.  In  December.  L889,  a  correspondent  at  Craig.  Mo., 
sent  specimens  of  the  larva  which  were  found  among  the  cocoons  of 
Plodia  interpunctella  in  corn  in  a  flour  mill  (see  [nsed  Life,  Vol.  II. 
p.277).  Dr.  Hamilton,  in  his  two  lists  of  Coleoptera  common  to  Europe 
1 1 22G — No.  S '2 


18 

and  North  America,  mentions  its  occurrence  in  granaries,  and  finally 
Mr.  W.  G.  Johnson  gives  instances  of  its  occurrence  in  warehouses  in 
the  American  Miller  for  June  and  July  of  1895.  The  hitter  reared  the 
adults  from  nearly  grown  larvae  feeding  on  corn  meal  and  from  others 
living  in  flour.  My  present  experiments  of  raising  the  insect  from  the 
egg  places  it  beyond  all  doubt  in  the  ranks  of  true  grain-feeding  species. 

Dr.  Lintner  has  surmised  (1.  c,  p.  47)  that  this  species  is  the  author 
of  reported  injuries  to  cotton  and  linen  goods.  It  is  frequently  noticed 
in  mills,  etc.,  on  bags,  but  not  having  actual  evidence  that  it  attacks 
such  cloth,  the  following  experiment  was  made: 

A  bit  of  cotton  was  placed  in  a  jar  of  flour  in  which  the  larvae 
were  feeding.  The  exact  time  of  exposure  was  not  noted,  but  when 
examined,  October  30,  it  was  found  to  be  perforated  here  and  there 


Fig.  6.—  Attagenus piceus :  a,  larva;  6,  pupa;  c,  adult;  d,  dorsal  abdominal  segments  of  pupa;  above 
at  left,  male  and  female  antennae— all  enlarged  (from  Howard  in  Bull.  4,  n.  s.) 

with  holes  of  different  sizes  and  so  badly  eroded  that  it  tore  on  being- 
subjected  to  the  slightest  force.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  this 
larva  is  frequently  the  cause  of  considerable  injury  to  flour  and  grain 
bags  from  its  gnawing  into  and  thus  weakening  them. 

The  species  briefly  described. — The  beetle  is  of  such  common  occur- 
rence in  the  household  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  time,  particu- 
larly on  our  window  sills,  that  little  need  be  said  of  it  at  this  time 
beyond  calling  attention  to  the  accompanying  illustration,  which  will 
serve  for  its  identification.  It  is  nearly  black  in  color,  with  the  ventral 
surface  lighter  and  the  legs  and  antennae  dark  yellowish.  It  measures 
between  two  and  three  sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  length  (3-5  mm.).  The 
sexes  may  readily  be  distinguished  by  examination  of  the  antenme. 
S  representing  the  male,  9  the  female,  in  the  illustration. 
The  larva  has  been  described,  according  to  Rupertsberger,  by  both 


19 

Sturm  and  Loew.  The  former  description  I  have  not  seen:  the  latter  is 
evidently  erroneously  cited.  The  figure  (6,a)  shows  its  general  appear- 
ance and  the  arrangement  of  its  vestiture.  The  ground  color  is  dark- 
reddish  brown,  the  vestiture  reddish.  The  dorsal  surface  is  strongly 
convex  and  rather  sparsely  covered  with  short,  coarse,  somewhat  scale 
like  hairs  appressed  to  the  surface  and  very  sparsely  interspersed  with  a 
few  coarser  erect  hairs  arranged  in  a  transverse  row  on  each  segment. 
A  I  lift  of  longer  hairs  proceeds  from  each  side  of  the  head  and  the  tho- 
racic segments.  The  lateral  hairs  of  the  abdominal  segments  are 
longer,  and  arranged  as  in  the  figure,  the  anal  segment  terminating  in  a 
pencil  of  long,  delicate  hairs.  The  head  is  thickly  covered  with  sub- 
erect  reddish  hair;  the  antenna'  arc  four-jointed,  and  terminate  In  ;i  seta. 
The  ventral  surface  is  whitish, and  rather  thickly  covered  with  appressed 
reddish  pubescence.     The  full-grown  larva  measures  about  8  mm. 

The  pupa,  figured  at  />,  is  white  and  delicate;  in  structure,  and  cov- 
ered with  fine,  light,  fulvous,  tloccnlent  pubescence.  It  is  larger  than 
the  adult,  measuring  about  5  mm.  Each  of  six  of  the  abdominal  seg- 
ments is  provided  with  a  short  transverse  curved  plate,  which  laces  a 
corresponding  plate  on  the  next  segment,  as  shown  at  d. 

Trogodekma  tarsale  Melsh. 

One  jar  of  flaxseed  from  the  museum  exhibit  of  the  Department  is 
infested  chiefly  by  this  common  museum  pest.  Many  of  the  larvae  may 
be  seen  through  the  glass,  and  large  patches  of  their  yellowish-brown 
gu  a  wings  and  excrement  show  where  they  have  been  at  work.  In  castor 
beans  a  few  larva'  were  present. 

That  these  species  of  Trogoderma  can  subsist  on  a  vegetable  diet  is 
as  positive  as  it  is  surprising.  No  other  Ooleoptera  to  my  knowedge 
live  on  oil  seeds,  and  I  had  nearly  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  as  this 
form  of  matter  was  the  nearest  approach  to  animal  food  available,  that 
these  insects  could  only  thrive  on  such  vegetable  substances  as  contain 
a  considerable  proportion  of  oleaginous  matter.  Judge  of  my  aston- 
ishment, then,  when  a  few  weeks  after  the  discovery  of  the  Trogoderma 
living  in  oil  seeds,  Dr.  Howard  brought  me  a  box  nearly  lull  of  cayenne 
pepper  in  which  were  several  Trogoderma  larva'.  The  most  careful 
Search  failed  to  show  even  fragments  of  that  well-known  red  pepper 
pest.  Sitodrepa  panicea,  or  of  any  other  insect  than  the  dermestid. 
Subsequently  the  adult  was  reared  and  proved  t<>  be  Trogoderma  tarsal, . 

It  seeming  desirable  to  ascertain  if  this  species  would  breed  on  so 
pungent  a  substance  as  cayenne  pepper,  a  few  adults  were  confined  with 
a  quantity  of  this  condiment.  In  due  time  larvae  appeared,  and  when 
examined  August  20,  or  nearly  ten  weeks  from  the  time  the  eggs  were 
deposited,  were  in  vigorous  condition,  the  average  individual  measur- 
ing a  tenth  of  an  inch  in  length,  or  about  half  that  of  the  full-grown 
larva.      Toward    the    end   of   September,  while    passing   through   the 


20 

museum  of  this  Department,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  an  accumu- 
lation of  powder  and  dust  about  the  edges  of  an  exhibit  of  peanut  oil 
cake,  and  another  of  Indian  turnip  bulbs.  A  great  number  of  the 
larvae  and  their  cast  skins  were  found  under  and  on  the  under  surface 
of  the  cakes ;  also  in  flour  and  meal  prepared  from  peanuts.  The  Indian 
turnip  bulbs  were  very  old  and  dry,  and  might  have  been  on  exhibition 
twenty  years  or  more. 

"When  this  insect  infests  a  substance  of  similar  color  and  consistency 
to  flour  or  meal  only  a  few  larvae  are  sufficient,  on  account  of  their 
extraordinary  habit  of  frequently  molting,  to  occasion  alarm.  In  fact, 
appearances  are  much  worse  than  the  reality.  Thus,  in  a  small  box  of 
peanut  meal  in  which  these  larva?  had  taken  up  their  abode,  about  forty 
larval  skins  had  accumulated  when  examined  September  27,  completely 
covering  one-half  of  the  surface  of  the  meal,  and  giving  the  impression 
of  a  whole  colony  of  the  insects. 

After  the  experiences  narrated  I  was  prepared  for  almost  anything, 
and  was  expecting  that  as  this  species  was  as  nearly  omnivorous  as  the 
preceding,  it  would  in  time  be  found  like  them  to  be  granivorous.  Hav- 
ing convinced  myself  by  the  process  of  " reasoning  by  analogy"  that 
the  insect  must  be  a  grain  feeder,  I  had  resolved  to  experiment  with  a 
view  of  ascertaining  if  the  species  would  feed  upon  cereal  food.  A 
compulsory  delay  of  a  few  days  saved  me  the  trouble.  While  the 
Division  of  Entomology  was  moving  into  new  quarters  a  bag  of  u  Sas- 
katchewan fife"  spring  wheat,  formerly  kept  in  stock  for  gratuitous 
distribution,  and  described  on  the  label  as  a  hard,  amber  variety  with 
an  exceedingly  heavy  grain,  was  unearthed,  in  which  the  larva  of  this 
insect  was  living,  there  being  present  no  other  insects  except  a  colony 
of  Anthrenus  and  a  single  stray  Silvanus.  In  fact,  this  grain  is  so 
hard  and  flinty  that  weevils  would  not  flourish  on  it. 

Soon  afterwards  I  found  larva?  in  another  lot  of  wheat  infested  with 
Silvanus,  and  in  corn  containing  Galandra  oryza  and  other  small  bee- 
tles. About  the  same  time,  Mr.  Frank  Benton  brought  me  larva?  found 
in  beehives,  where  they  apparently  fed  upon  propolis,  or  bee  glue. 
There  are  several  recorded  instances  of  Dermestes  lardarius  feeding 
upon  wax,1  or,  more  properly  speaking,  honeycomb,  and  it  is  therefore 
fairly  certain  that  Trogoderma  has  the  same  habit,  although  not  previ- 
ously reported  in  beehives. 

Among  the  divisional  notes  I  find  one  recording  the  receipt  of  six 
larva?  of  this  species  in  a  box  of  red  pepper,  from  a  correspondent  in 
Utah,  November  22, 1882.  These  larvae  were  kept  in  the  box  of  pepper 
for  a  year,  at  which  time  fifty-four  cast  larval  skins  were  noticed.  The 
box  was  examined  January  14,  1887,  or  over  four  years  from  the  time 
of  its  receipt,  when  two  larva?  and  seventy  more  cast  skins  were  found, 
but  no  trace  of  beetles,  although  it  had  been  kept  closed,  so  that  it 
was  impossible  for  either  larva?  or  adults  to  escape.     It  is  very  obvious 


1  See  Lintner's  6th  Rept.,  pp.  122-123;  Diibini(L'Ape  e  il  suo  Goverao,  1881,  p.  266). 


21 

that  four  larvae,  or  the  beetles  that  developed  from  them,  had  died  in 
the  interim  and  were  then  devoured  by  their  fellows.  In  any  case,  the 
adult  was  not  reared,  and  no  published  statement  was  made  of  the  larva 
having  been  found  living  in  the  condiment. 

The  capability  of  this  species  to  breed  in  other  seeds  was  demon- 
strated by  the  discovery  of  the  larvae  living  upon  "kola,"  an  edible 
leguminous  seed  somewhat  resembling  a  cowpea.  The  insect  had  evi- 
dently been  iirst  attracted  by  the  dead  bodies  of  the  original  inhabitant 
of  the  seeds,  the  weevil,  Bruchus  chinoisis,  but  had  afterwards  \\n\  upon 
the  seeds,  even  hollowing  them  out  and  leaving  only  the  empty  shells. 
In  a  similar  manner,  larva'  were  found,  together  with  those  of  Atta 
genus,  in  millet  and  pumpkin  seeds  that  had  formerly  been  inhabited 
by  the  polyphagous  Indian-meal  moth,  Plodia  interpunctella.] 

Trogoderma  sternale  Jayne. 

Among  the  samples  of  infested  seeds  selected  from  the  Department 
exhibits  were  several  containing  larva'  that  were  entirely  unknown  to 
me.  They  seemed  to  belong  to  the  genus  Trogoderina,  but  differed 
considerably  from  T.  tarsals,  with  which  in  one  or  two  jars  they  were 
associated. 

The  infested  jars  were  kept  in  a  moderately  heated  basement  room 
and  the  first  of  April  a  few  imagos  made  their  appearance.  At  about 
the  same  time  specimens  of  this  same  species  were  referred  to  this 
office  for  identilication  by  the  Division  of  Economic  Ornithology  and 
Mammalogy.  Subsequent  search  discovered  many  individuals  in  all 
stages  in  jars  of  linseed,  castor  beaus,  silkworm  cocoons,  and  red-clover 
seed.  In  the  jar  of  cocoons,  which  were  riddled  with  holes  and  utterly 
unfit  for  exhibition,  this  species  was  associated  with  Trogoderma  t<ir- 
sale  and  a  few  individuals  of  Attagenus  piceus,  and  it  is  fairly  certain 
that  it  was  in  these  cocoons  that  the  insects  were  originally  intro- 
duced in  the  museum  and  that  they  had  been  there  for  several  years. 

Specimens  reared  here  at  Washington  agree  fairly  well  with  certain 
color  variations  identified  as  T.  sternale  Jayne  in  the  National  Museum 
from  Xew  Mexico.  This  species  was  described  in  1883  from  material 
from  Xew  Mexico,  California,  Arizona,  and  Texas  (see  Proc.  Am.  Ent. 
Soc,  Vol.  XX,  p.  303),  and  as  Dr.  G.  II.  Horn,  to  whom  specimens  were 
submitted  for  verification,  concurs  in  the  above  opinion,  we  may  con- 
sider the  Washington  material  as  belonging  to  this  species.  Its  orig- 
inal habitat  can  scarcely  be  conjectured,  but  I  surmise  that  it,  as  well 
as  T.  tdrsalc  and  other  indoor  species,  is  exotic  and  probably  tropical. 
Its  first  published  habitat  tends  to  indicate  that  it  might  have  been 
introduced  through  Mexico  or  Central  America.  The  California  locality 
from  which  Mr.  Jayne  had  material  was  probably  southern  California, 

"Since  the  preparation  of  this  paper  \\:i^  completed  Dr.  John  Hamilton  has 
recorded  the  breeding  <>t'  Trogoderma  turaale  in  packed  fi^s  (Canadian  Entomologist, 
Vol.  XXVIII,  p.  262,  Oct.,  18913;. 


22 

as  we  have  specimens  in  the  National  Museum  from  there.  Dr.  Horn 
writes  under  date  of  December  5,  1895,  that  he  has  sternale  "frorn  all 
over  the  United  States."  It  is  evidently  a  comparatively  new  intro 
dnction  in  Washington,  for  had  it  occurred  in  any  numbers  in  previous 
years  it  could  not  well  have  escaped  recognition  by  the  members  of 
this  Division  on  their  visits  to  our  museums. 

Until  my  discovery  of  this  sx>ecies  only  T.  tarsale  had  been  noticed 
in  any  abundance  in  our  agricultural  museum,  but  judging  from  pres- 
ent experience  it  seems  perfectly  capable  of  holding  its  own  with  other 
cabinet  pests,  if,  indeed,  it  does  not  supplant  some  of  them. 

The  jars  which  were  preserved  represent  samples  from  different  glass 
columns,  each  of  which  contained  several  bushels  of  material.  One 
jar  of  linseed  contained  both  species  of  Trogoderma,  but  another  was 
infested  exclusively  by  the  new  species.  The  castor  beans  contained 
both  species,  but  the  clover  seed  only  the  new  form. 

Anthrenus  verbasci  Linn. 

There  are  at  least  two  published  notices  of  this,  another  of  our  com- 
mon insect  cabinet  pests,  attacking  vegetable  substances — that  already 
referred  to,  in  Yol.  VII  of  Insect  Life,  p.  32,  wherein  Mr.  V.  L.  Kellogg 
remarks  u attacking  jiowdered  cramp  bark  (Viburnum  prunifoliiim)," 
and  another  earlier  notice  in  Field  and  Forest  (Vol.  II,  p.  184,  1877), 
by  Mr.  0.  E.  Dodge,  of  this  Department.  Shed  skins  of  Anthrenus 
(species  not  stated,  but  undoubtedly  verbasci)  were  found  in  an  insect 
box  in  which  "  nearly  all  the  labels  had  been  deeply  notched  and  eaten 
on  all  sides."  Mr.  Dodge  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  the  insect  had 
fed  upon  the  paper  from  choice  or  from  lack  of  other  food. 

Specimens  of  both  larvae  and  adults  were  received  in  the  spring  of 
1895  from  a  lot  of  "middlings"  in  which  were  found  Attagenus  larvae, 
but  no  significance  was  attached  to  this  finding  until  a  large  number 
of  the  larvae  were  discovered  in  spoiled  flour  from  a  local  bakery. 

The  experience  of  the  two  writers  above  quoted  indicates  merely  the 
ability  of  the  larva  to  injure  vegetal  substances.  August  6,  it  being 
unfortunately  too  late  to  rear  the  insect  from  the  egg^  a  number  of 
immature  larvae  were  collected  in  the  damaged  flour  and  transferred 
to  a  jar  containing  fresh  flour  that  had  been  disinfected  for  the  pur- 
pose. Here  they  at  once  made  themselves  at  home,  and  in  five  weeks' 
time  a  notable  increase  in  growth  was  observable.  One  of  the  smallest 
individuals,  measuring  when  first  isolated  1.8  mm.,  showed  an  increase 
of  nearly  double  its  length  in  this  time. 

During  September  many  larvae  of  this  species  were  found  together 
with  Trogoderma  tarsale  living  in  peanuts  and  in  meal,  flour,  and  cakes 
prepared  from  them  and  from  peanut  oil.  In  the  following  mouth  other 
larvae  were  found  in  the  same  bag  of  hard  seed  wheat  mentioned  as 
harboring  T.  tarsale. 

In  February,  1896, 1  received  from  Mrs.  E.  0.  Jones,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 


23 

a  box  of  cayenne  pepper  Infested  with  both  the  drug-store  beetle 
[Sitodrepa  panicea),  which,  as  is  well  known,  frequently  lives  in  this 
condiment,  and  this  AnthrenuS.  In  April  it  was  also  found  at  this 
Department  in  different  exhibits  of  red  pepper,  no  other  species  being 
present.  As  we  have  previously  recorded  a  similar  occurrence  of  this 
Anthrenus  in  red  pepper  in  which  it  was  associated  with  an  Ephestia 
(Insect  Lite,  Vol.  IV,  p.  332),  it  is  not  presumptive  to  say  that  it,  as 
well  as  Trogoderma,  will  feed  upon  this  substance. 

GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1896  all  the  species  mentioned  in 
this  paper  nave  come  to  my  notice  again  and  again  in  farinaceous 
products,  but  sufficient  has  been  said  to  establish  these  insects  as  her- 
bivorous in  their  nature  and  I  will  forbear  further  mention  of  occurrences 
for  the  present.  I  have  been  somewhat  particular  as  to  details  regard- 
ing- the  actual  feeding  habits  of  the  different  species,  as  it  is  a  matter 
requiring  caution.  Had  anyone  told  me  two  years  ago  that  Attagenm 
piceus  fed  upon  Hour  and  meal,  that  Trogoderma  tarsale  reveled  in  fiery 
red  pepper,  and  that  another  species  could  thrive  on  such  laxative  sub- 
stances as  castor  beans  and  flaxseed  I  would  have  believed  my  inform- 
ant guilty  of  romancing. 

The  change  from  a  natural  animal-feeding  habit  to  a  vegetable  one 
must  be  attributed  to  altered  environment.  In  the  case  of  Attagi n us 
piceus  the  insect  might  have  been  carried  originally  into  granaries, 
barns,  and  mills  upon  hides  and  skins  and  upon  bags  aud  have  been 
thus  attracted  by  the  dead  bodies  of  Sitotroga,  Galandra,  and  other 
grain  insects,  and  when  this  preferred  food  became  scarce  the  most 
available  substitute,  viz.  Hour  and  meal  and  the  powdered  grain  result- 
ing from  the  attacks  of  the  grain  feeders,  was  eaten.  The  presence  of 
Anthrenus  in  flour  may  be  explained  in  a  similar  manner,  but  not  so 
the  Trogoderma  in  oil  seeds.  There  was  positively  no  trace  of  other 
insects  in  the  red  pepper,  in  the  castor  beans,  and  flaxseed,  and  these 
attacks  admit  of  no  other  explanation  than  that  of  an  absence  of  more 
suitable  food  and  show  a  wondrous  adaptability  to  unnatural  surround- 
ings. Assuming  that  the  carnivorous  habit  is  the  natural  one.  the 
herbivorous  taste  must  have  been  gradually  acquired  and  that  many 
years  ago. 

A  few  words  are  due  concerning  the  economic  phase  of  (lie  question. 
Let  us  first  consider,  for  the  sake  of  contrast,  the  lite  economy  of  a 
seriously  injurious  grain-feeding  species,  for  example.  Ephestia  kueh- 
niella.  A  single  female  deposits  from  300  to  360  eggs,  ami  in  a  climate 
as  far  north  as  our  own  there  may  be  as  many  as  six  broods  each  year. 
The  larva  is  practically  restricted  to  Hour  and  meal  for  subsistence. 
Every  year  we  hear  of  the  enormous  losses  occasioned  through  this 
insect's  ravages.  On  the  other  hand  the  female  dermestid  is  not  known 
to  be  especially  prolific  :  probably  does  not  lay  more  than  50  or  00  eggs. 


24 

None  of  the  sx^ecies  under  consideration  develop  more  than  one  brood 
each  year;  in  fact,  it  is  a  common  occurrence  for  them  to  extend  their 
larval  existence  over  a  period  of  two  or  more  years.  They  are  omniv- 
orous and  appear  to  prefer  an  animal  diet.  There  are  no  records  of 
serious  injury  by  them  to  other  than  animal  substances. 

Obviously  there  is  little  likelihood  of  any  of  these  species  of  Der- 
mestida3  ever  assuming  prime  economic  importance  as  enemies  of 
cereal  or  other  vegetable  products,  although  each  species  in  its  own 
particular  way  inflicts  its  share  of  injury. 

WEEVILS  THAT  AFFECT  THE  SEED  OF  THE  CO^PEA. 

The  cowpea  is  subject  to  the  depredations  of  two  species  of  weevils, 
Bruchus  quadrimaculatus  Fab.  and  B.  chinensis  Linn.,  which  injure  its 
seed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  common  bean  weevil,  Bruchus  obtectusy 
does  the  bean.  They  begin  work  in  the  garden  and  field  and  continue 
to  breed  in  the  stored  seed,  which  they  very  soon  entirely  spoil  as  food 
for  man  or  stock,  and  seriously  impair  its  germinating  power.  Both 
species  are  generally  distributed  and  injurious  in  the  South  and  are 
widening  their  range  with  the  increasing  use  of  their  food  plant. 

Just  when  they  were  first  introduced  in  this  country  does  not  appear 
to  be  known  even  approximately,  nor  do  I  find  anything  definite  toward 
establishing  the  date  of  their  first  discovery  here.  In  the  old  Mel- 
sheimer  catalogue  of  1806,  B.  l-maculatus  is  mentioned,  and  in  the 
younger  Melsheimer's  catalogue,  published  in  1853,  both  are  listed  as 
synonymous  with  B.  sinuatus  Sch.,  chinensis  receiving  mention  as  scutel- 
laris  Fab.,  by  which  name  the  species  is  generally  known.  In  Dr.  Horn's 
revision  of  the  Bruehidse,  published  twenty  years  later,  both  species 
are  considered,  this  being  the  first  definite  record  that  I  find  of  their 
occurrence  in  America,  though  undoubtedly  they  were  introduced  at  an 
earlier  date  with  their  food  plant. 

ECONOMIC   LITERATURE. 

Until  recent  years  little  had  been  published  concerning  the  habits  of 
either  species,  the  first  notice  of  any  extent  being  that  by  Dr.  J.  A. 
Lintner  on  B.  chinensis,  published  in  1890  in  his  sixth  New  York  report 
(pp.  127-129).  Following  this,  three  years  later,  "Pysche"  (Vol.  VI, 
pp.  447-449),  and  during  the  present  year  Messrs.  Herbert  Osborn  and 
0.  W.  Mally  of  the  Iowa  Experiment  Station,  published  a  9-page  article 
on  the  same  species  in  Bulletin  No.  32  of  that  station  (pp.  386-394). 

Dr.  Lintner  did  not  work  out  the  life  history  of  chinensis,  and  his 
published  surmise  that  its  life  history  and  habits  "  would  be  about 
the  same  as  those  of  the  common  species,"  B.  pisorum,  is  incorrect,  as 
he  has  subsequently  stated. 

Mr.  Slingerland  presented  some  interesting  facts  concerning  the 
development  of  quadrimaculatus,   and  Osborn   and    Mally   gave  an 


25 


SIS  : 
(origina 


men- 
in  a  1  e— en  1  a  rged 


account  of  its  life  cycle  as  observed  in  the  seed  room  of  the  experiment 
station  at  Ames,  Iowa,  without,  however,  indicating  the  time  of  the 
observations  or  atmospheric  conditions. 

Daring  the  latter  pari  of  Angnsl  of  the  past  year  specimens  of  these 
species  were  received  for  identification  from  Mr.  A.  L.  Qnaintance,  of 
the  Florida  Experiment  Station.1  and  during  the  autumn  living  material 
of  both  was  found  in  this  city. 

The  lateness  of  the  season  when  living-  material  was  obtained  and 
press  of  other  work  have  prevented  any  extended  comparative  observa- 
tions of  these  species, but  experiments  conducted  at  a  former  time  upon 
chinemis  throw  new  light  on  their  development  and  enable  an  estimate 
of  the  number  of  generations  annually  produced. 
As  there  has  always  been  considerable  confusion  in 
regard  to  the  identity  of  these  two  species,  and  as 
both  are  of  growing  importance,  economically,  it 
has  been  thought  well  to  introduce  illustrations  of 
each  and  to  point  out  the  specific  differences. 

THE    SPECIES   COMPARED. 

The  two  species  of  cowpea  weevils  resemble  each 
other,  after  a  manner,  superficially,  but   there  are    no.  i.—Bmchus  ci 
excellent  and  very  obvious  characters  for  their  sep- 
aration. 

Uracil ii x  chinensis  is  the  more  robust  species  and  it  may  be  at  once 
distinguished  by  the  two  large,  elevated  eburneous,  or  ivory-like,  basal 
thoracic  lobes,  and  strongly  pectinate  antennae  of  the 
male.  The  ground  color  is  dull  red,  sometimes  more 
or  less  blackish,  and  is  ornamented  with  yellow  and 
gray  or  white  pubescence.  The  pattern  of  the  elytra 
varies  considerably,  that  shown  in  the  illustration 
(tig.  7)  being  the  prevailing  form  of  specimens  bred 
in  stored  seed.  The  dark  spots  at  the  sides  are  not 
round  and  conspicuous  as  in  i-maculatus  and  the 
apical  spots  are  sometimes  wanting,  while  often  black 
is  the  prevailing  color  of  the  dorsal  sin  face. 

Bruchus  quadrimaculatu8  is  the  more  Blender  spe- 
cies  and  differs  from  the  preceding  by  the  following 
characters:  The  ground  color  is  black,  with  black, 
gray,  and  white  pubescence.  The  antennae  are  serrate  and  not  pec- 
tinate in  the  male.  The  basal  lobe  of  the  thorax  is  marked  with 
white  pubescence  only.  The  elytra  are  longer,  and  the  gray  and  white 
pubescence  is  so  arranged  as  to  leave  the  four  large  black  .spots,  whence 
the  species  derives  its  name.  Two  are  in  the  middle  of  the  elytra  on 
the  margin  and  two  at  the  apices.     These  markings  are  variable  and  are 


Fig.  8. — Brvchus  4mac 
nlatns :  female  —  en 
larged  (original). 


1  The  same  gentleman  has  given,  since  the  above  was  written,  a  brief  account  «>i* 
both  species  in  Bulletin  No.  3t>,  of  the  Florida  -tat ion. 


26 

often  lacking,  even  in  fresli  specimens.  They  also  become  almost 
entirely  obliterated  in  old  individuals.  What  appears  to  be  the  com- 
monest form  of  coloration  is  illustrated  (fig.  8).  This  represents  a  fresh 
female,  the  abdomen  being  large  and  protruding  beyond  the  elytra. 

It  is  not  probable  that  these  two  species  differ  in  any  striking  manner 
as  regards  their  life  habits  and  economy,  but  a  careful  comparison  will 
undoubtedly  bring  out  certain  points  of  difference. 

THE    COWPEA  WEEVIL. 

The  above  name,  which  is  proposed  for  Bruchus  chinensis,  will  suffi- 
ciently distinguish  it  from  B.  4-maculatus,  since  the  latter  is  already 
known  as  the  four-spotted  bean  weevil. 

Divisional  records  of  damage,  etc. — In  the  columns  of  Insect  Life  refer- 
ence has  been  made  to  this  species,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  heat 
evolved  by  its  action  in  cowpeas.  Its  occurrence  was  noticed  in  injuri- 
ous abundance  in  cowpeas  at  Holly  Springs,  Miss.;  in  Chile,  S.  A.; 
in  "peas"  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. ;  in  beans  at  the  New  Orleans  Expo- 
sition, July,  1895-,  in  Chinese  beans  at  this  Department,  and  at  the 
World's  Fair  in  1893.  In  the  last  instance  it  was  seen  by  the  writer 
in  the  greatest  numbers  in  cowpeas  and  "adsuki"  beans,  a  variety  of 
Phaseolus  radiatus,  exhibited  respectively  by  Puerto  Eico  and  Japan. 
In  the  Japanese  exhibit  it  had  ruined  many  large  bags  of  seed.  It 
was  present  also  in  cultivated  legumes  from  Ceylon,  known  by  the 
native  names  of  "  kolu"  and  "muneta." 

September  10,  1896,  Mr.  A.  M.  Read  brought  to  this  office  a  lot  of 
cowpeas  of  a  black  variety  infested  by  this  species.  The  seed  had  been 
purchased  a  year  previously  and  was  traced  to  a  Baltimore  wholesale 
house. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  same  month  this  weevil  was  observed  in  the 
experimental  plats  of  cowpeas  on  the  grounds  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  and  further  search  showed  the  exit  holes  of  the  beetles  in 
the  pods.    These  were  most  numerous  upon  the  "Unknown "  variety. 

Distribution. — Previous  to  finding  this  insect  breeding  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  the  writer  had  not  thought  it  possible  that  it  had  accommo- 
dated itself  to  our  climate,  but  had  conceived  the  more  conservative 
idea  that  all  the  northern  occurrences  were  directly  due  to  recent 
introductions  of  seed  from  the  South.  It  would  now  appear  that  it  is 
not  a  question  as  to  whether  the  species  is  a  permanent  inhabitant  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  vicinity,  but  rather  of  how  far  northward 
of  here  it  has  gained  foothold.  The  species  has  been  known  for  some- 
time to  be  thoroughly  acclimated  throughout  the  Gulf  States,  and  from 
present  knowledge  it  is  fairly  certain  that  it  is  capable  of  establishing 
itself  wherever  its  food  plant  will  grow. 

From  foreign  countries  there  are  records  of  the  occurrence  of  the 
species  in  Panama,  Chile,  the  East  Indies,  Sierra  Leone,  Algeria,  and 
Cape  of  Good  Hope;  and,  of  course,  China. 


27 

Development  of  the  insect. — The  life  history  of  this  insect  as  observed 
by  the  writer  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  in  brief  as  follows: 

The  eggs  are  deposited  on  the  outside  of  the  growing  pods,  to  which 
they  adhere  tightly,  and  the  larva  hatch  from  them  in  four,  five,  or 
more  (lays,  depending  upon  the  season  and  other  circumstances,  and 
bnnow  into  the  pods  to  the  developing  seed  which  they  penetrate.  In 
two  or  three  weeks  in  midsummer  weather  the  larva  has  attained  full 
growth  and  now  transforms  to  pupa.  This  state  lasts  from  about  four 
or  five  days  in  warm  weather  to  considerable  longer  in  cooler  weather, 
when  the  beetle  form  is  assumed.  The  beetle  gnaws  its  way  out  of  the 
seed  in  the  same  manner  as  do  the  other  species  of  Bruchus  by  cutting 
a  round  Hap  through  the  skin  of  the  pod.  The  first  brood  which 
develops  in  the  field  attains  maturity  at  least  by  the  third  week  of 
September,  and  perhaps  earlier  if  we  may  judge  by  the  appearance 
of  the  exit  holes  in  the  pods  and  the  further  fact  that  certain  varie- 
ties of  the  cowpea  mature  earlier  than  the  third  week. 

The  beetles  continue  to  develop  in  the  dried  and  stored  seed  for 
several  generations,  in  fact  until  the  seed  becomes  completely  ruined 
for  any  practical  purpose  and  unfit  even  for  the  sustenance  of  this 
insect.  In  a  very  short  time  decomposition  sets  in  inviting  swarms  of 
mites  and  the  beetles  are  forced  to  other  quarters  in  their  struggle 
for  existence. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  six  or  seven  broods  probably  develop 
anually  in  this  latitude. 

It  is  yet  early  to  say  with  positiveness  what  varieties  of  seed  are  most 
subject  to  infestation  by  this  insect.  The  u  Unknown"  cowpea  seems 
to  be  the  favorite  variety  in  the  Department  plats;  the  seed  of  Phase- 
olus  radiatus  is  quite  to  their  liking,  and  they  develop  perfectly  well  in 
common  peas  and  chick-peas  (Cicer  arietinum).  The  Oeylonese  seeds 
in  which  they  are  found,  and  at  present  known  to  the  writer  only  by 
their  native  names  "kolu"  and  "muneta,"  were  very  small  and  the  size 
of  the  beetles  breeding  in  them  was  in  proportion. 

Natural  enemies. — This  weevil  is  attacked  while  in  the  immature  con- 
dition by  two  or  more  chalcidid  parasites  of  the  subfamily  Pteroma- 
linsB;  but  the  species  have  not  yet  been  studied  and  need  not  be  further 
mentioned  now. 

During  the  month  of  November  an  adult  of  this  weevil  that  had  very 
recently  issued  from  a  lot  of  cowpeas  was  found  with  many  Individuals 
of  Heteropus  ventricosus  Newp.,  a  common  and  omnivorous  mite,  attached 
to  it. 

THE    FOUR-SPOTTED    15EAN    WEEVIL. 

Divisional  records  of  occurrences. — Our  first  experience  with  Bruchus 
4-maculatus  dates  no  farther  back  than  in  1885,  when  this  species  was 
found  at  the  first  Atlanta  Cotton  Exposition  infesting  "black  eyed 
table  beans"  from  Texas.  At  the  World's  Pair  in  1893  it  was  observed 
by  the  writer  breeding  in  great  numbers  in  beans  and  cowpeas  in  the 


28 

exhibits  of  Brazil  and  Venezuela,  most  of  the  exhibited  seeds  being 
badly  decomposed  toward  the  latter  days  of  the  Exposition. 

In  May,  1894,  we  received  specimens  for  identification  from  Mr.  K.  H. 
Price,  of  the  Texas  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and  later  the 
species  is  mentioned  in  Bulletin  31  of  that  station  (p.  4GG)  as  seeming 
to  be  the  most  injurious  weevil  to  the  cowpea  in  the  State  of  Texas. 

September  1  Mr.  G.  H.  Hicks,  of  this  Department,  sent  to  this  office 
at  my  request  a  lot  of  "  Black  eye"  cowpeas  infested  with  this  insect. 
They  were  obtained  from  the  Georgia  Experiment  Station  at  Experi- 
ment in  the  spring  of  1896.  On  the  day  following  Mr.  E.  C.  Pratt 
brought  me  two  specimens  of  this  insect  which  he  had  found  in  a  pack- 
age of  soap  just  purchased  at  a  grocery  store  in  this  city.  At  my 
request  he  repaired  to  the  store  for  more  material.  In  response  to 
inquiry  as  to  where  the  insects  had  probably  bred  the  clerk  stated  that 
he  did  not  know  unless  they  had  developed  in  a  barrel  of  cucumber 
pickles,  where  they  were  abundant  at  the  time.  They  were  also  con- 
spicuously numerous  in  buckets  of  preserves,  apparently  being- 
attracted  by  the  moist  sugar  that  had  been  used  in  preparing  these. 
The  beetles  were  also  crawling  all  over  the  store,  and  the  clerks  were 
brushing  them  off  as  though  they  were  fleas.  Their  origin  Avas  traced 
to  a  sack  of  cowpeas  of  the  variety  just  mentioned.  September  17,  or 
fifteen  days  after  the  receipt  of  the  infested  cowpeas,  they  were  again 
examined  and  found  to  be  very  musty  and  in  an  advanced  state  of 
decomposition,  the  odor  being  perceptible  at  a  considerable  distance.  I 
have  noticed  of  this  species  more  than  of  any  other  insect  that  attacks 
stored  products  that  decomposition  sets  in  at  a  very  early  period, 
and  that  this  is  more  noticeable  in  the  case  of  cowpeas  than  any  other 
product. 

Distribution. — This  species  is  well  known  throughout  the  South,  and 
isin  all  probability  to  be  found  wherever  cowpeas  are  cultivated.  In  the 
National  Museum  collection  are  specimens  labeled  Georgia,  Florida, 
and  Texas.  We  have  series  from  Orescent  Oity,  Lake  City,  and  Enter 
prise,  Fla.,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Ashmead  has  taken  it  at  Utica,  Miss- 
Messrs.  Osborn  and  Mally  found  it  breeding  in  the  field  at  Ames, 
Iowa,  and  from  frequently  finding  the  species  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia I  have  little  doubt  that  it  is  acclimated  here.  From  abroad  we 
have  specimens  from  Venezuela  and  Brazil,  and  the  species  is  recorded 
also  from  the  East  Indies,  Sierra  Leone,  and  elsewhere. 

Parasitic  enemies. — From  one  of  the  lots  of  cowpeas  obtained  in  this 
city  were  reared  what  appear  to  be  three  species  of  parasitic  Pteromali- 
na3,  all  as  yet  undescribed  and  not  referable  beyond  a  certain  doubt  to 
the  proper  genera.  In  a  peck  of  infested  cowpeas  obtained  during 
November  it  was  estimated  that  between  50  and  75  per  cent  of  the 
seed  taken  from  the  top  gave  out  parasites. 


29 

TTTK   COMMON   BEAN    WEEVIL    OX    THE    OOIVFEA.. 

During  the  autumn  of  1S9G,  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  observe  the 
beetles  of  the  common  bean  weevil,  Bruchua  obtectus  Say,  upon  the 
experimental  plats  of  cowpeas  on  the  grounds  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  They  were  evidently  engaged  in  ovipositing  on  the 
plants,  as  specimens  were  reared  later  from  the  seed  gathered  from  the 
field.  In  October  Mr.  Pratt  found  the  insect  at  work  in  dried  cowpeas 
that  were  on  exhibition  in  the  pods  in  the  museum  of  the  Department, 
which  adjoins  the  experimental  gardens. 

It  has  been  noticed  of  this  species  the  past  year  thai  it  begins  to 
issue  from  beans  in  the  field  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  as  early  as  October,  when  in  the  natural  coarse  of  events 
the  eggs  for  a  new  brood  would  be  deposited  in  such  pods  as  had 
cracked  open  so  as  to  expose  the  seeds  within. 

This  species  breeds  in  dried  peas  also,  but  whether  it  would  attack 
this  legume  in  the  tield  where  an  abundance  of  beans  were  available 
as  food  remains  to  be  seen. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  the  same  or  similar  parasites  that 
affect  the  cowpea  weevils  have  never  been  reared  from  the  common 
bean  weevil. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   COMMON   BEAN   WEEVIL. 

Our  preseut  knowledge  of  the  early  literature  of  Bruchus  obtectus 
extends  no  farther  back  than  the  time  of  Say's  description  in  July  of 
1831.  The  first  economic  account  of  the  insect  is  credited  to  Asa  Fitch, 
and  appeared  just  30  years  later.  Strangely  enough  it  was  not  until 
1870  that  the  species  attracted  any  marked  attention.  In  that  year  a 
number  of  accounts  appeared,  including  a  half  do/en  articles  and  notes 
published  in  volume  II  of  the  American  Entomologist.  Longer  or 
shorter  accounts  have  appeared  in  great  number  in  succeeding  years,  but 
in  only  one  that  has  been  seen  by  the  writer  was  any  attention  paid  to 
the  duration  of  the  different  stages  of  the  species.  In  Insect  Life  (Vol. 
V,  i).  8G)  Mr.  M.  V.  Slingerland  gave  a  brief  statement  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  insect  at  Ithaca,  X.  Y.,  in  dried  beans,  which  may  be 
summarized  as  follows:  Egg,  12  to  20  days:  larva, 24  to  42  days;  pupa, 
11  to  18  days;  entire  life  cycle,  48  to  80  days;  the  fust  figure  repre- 
senting the  period  for  warm  weather,  the  higher  number  that  for  a 
colder  period. 

Having  spent  considerable  time  in  earlier  years  at  Itliaea.  I  am  able 
to  speak  from  experience  of  the  great  difference  in  the  climate  where 
these  experiments  were  conduct  ed  ami  that  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
To  obtain  a  proper  conception  of  the  difference  it  should  be  added 
that,  in  addition  to  the  latitude  and  elevation  of  the  two  places,  <  'or- 
U"U  University,  where  Mr.  Slingerland's  experiments  were  made,  is 
located  upon  a  hill  upward  of  400  feet  above  the   Level  of  Cayuga 


30 

Lake,  while  the  Department  of  Agriculture  where  the  writer's  experi- 
ments were  made,  is  situated  in  the  city  of  Washington,  only  about  40 
feet  above  the  Potomac. 

Three  experiments  were  conducted  with  a  view  to  the  determination 
of  the  rate  of  development  of  this  species  in  dried  beans,  as  follows: 

April  30,  twenty  beetles  were  j)laced  in  a  jar  of  disinfected  dried 
beans,  from  which  two  adults  issued  June  18,  or  in  49  days  (7  weeks). 

The  following  day,  June  19,  a  second  experiment  began  with  the  con- 
fining of  adult  beetles  with  other  beans.  From  this  lot  three  imagos 
of  the  new  brood  developed  July  10,  or  in  27  days. 

The  last  experiment  was  undertaken  in  warm  weather,  and  will  denote 
approximately  the  minimum  period  of  development  in  dried  seed. 
Twenty  imagos  were  placed  with  fresh  beans  June  19,  and  the  first 
individuals  issuing  from  these  appeared  July  10,  or  in  21  days  (3  weeks): 

We  thus  have  ascertained  definite  periods  in  the  life  history  of  this 
insect  under  different  atmospheric  conditions,  showing  a  variation  of 
from  21  to  80  days. 

It  should  be  added  that  an  experiment  begun  during  an  exception- 
ally heated  period  and  conducted  in  a  very  hot  room  failed  with  this 
species,  evidently  on  account  of  the  excessive  dryness  of  the  seeds, 
although  these  had  been  partially  decorticated  for  the  purpose;  also 
that  the  writer  has  evidence  that  the  entire  period  from  the  laying  of 
the  egg  to  the  issuance  of  the  adult  may  be  prolonged  to  three  months 
or  more  in  a  sufficiently  cold  exposure. 

Eggs  that  were  laid  April  30  hatched  May  8,  or  in  8  days.  Eggs 
laid  October  27  hatched  November  13,  or  in  17  days.  Weather  unsea- 
sonably warm;  temperature  of  room,  60°  to  70°. 

The  pupal  stage  in  hot  weather  occupied  5  days,  from  July  16  to  21. 

From  experience  with  other  allied  species  I  do  not  believe  that  8  days 
represents  the  minimum  egg  period.  In  the  same  weather  and  under 
the  same  conditions  the  egg  and  pupal  periods  for  most  Coleopterathat 
have  come  under  my  observation  are  nearly  identical.  Thus  Ave  have  a 
minimum  life  cycle  of  21  days,  as  follows:  Egg,  about  5  days;  larval 
period,  11  days;  pupal  period,  5  days.  This  would  give,  with  Mr. 
Slingerland's  results,  the  following  variations  according  to  the  atmos- 
pheric conditions,  heat  and  cold,  and  possibly  dryness  and  moisture : 

Egg  stage,  5  to  20  days;  larval  stage,  11  to  42  days;  pupal  stage, 
5  to  18  days;  entire  life  cycle,  21  to  80  days. 

A  LITTLE-KNOWN  GRAJN  WEEVIL. 

(Caulophilus  latinasus  Say.) 

Prominent  among  the  insects  collected  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition  is  a 
little  cossonine  weevil, indistinguishable  from  Caulophilus  latinasus  Say, 
found  living  in  Indian  corn  and  "Spanish  peas"  or  chick-peas  (Cicer 
arietinum)  from  Mexico.  It  was  the  only  insect  found  in  these  par- 
ticular exhibits  of  seeds,  and  its  work  appears  to  be  not  entirely  unlike 


31 

that  of  the  grain  weevils,  Calandra  granaria  and  oryza,  but  if  is  at 
present  impossible  to  speak  of  this  with  cert  itude,  as  the  living  material 
secured  was  limited,  and  for  some  reason  did  not  survive  I  lie  winter. 

This  appears  to  be  the  first  instance  of  the  occurrence  of  i  Lis  insect 
in  either  stored  cereals  or  legumes.  There  is,  however,  one  record,  by 
Mr.  C.  II.  T.  Townsend,  of  its  having  been  found  at  Kingston,  Jamaica, 
in  a  case  of  "scraped  ginger"  (Institute  of  Jamaica,  Notes  from  the 
Museum,  No.  78).  Mr.  Schwarz,  in  The  Goleoptera  of  Florida  p.  168  . 
says  ••  rare,  beaten  from  dead  twigsj"  and  in  volume  I  of  Insect  Life 
(p.  IDS)  the  species  of  Oaulophilus  are  stated  to  have  similar  habits  to 
other  Cossonini,  which  live  under  bark  and  in  decaying  wood.  Doubt 
less  this  was  the  original  habit  of  the  genus,  and  probably  even  at  the 
present  time  it  bores  in  dead  roots  and  perhaps  even  in  twigs. 

The  insect  is  slender  ami  somewhat  depressed,  about  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  in  length,  of  a  dark  brown  color,  and  superficially  resembling  our 
native  species  of  Phloeophagus  and  Pentarthrinus.  Wollaston  compares 
it  to  the  European  Tthyncolus  cylindrirostris  Oliv.  (=Ugnariu8  Marsh.), 
but  structurally  it  differs  from  these  three  genera,  from  PhlCeophagus, 
with  which  it  is  most  likely  to  be  associated, the  genus  Oaulophilus  is 
said  by  Wollaston  to  be  distinguished  by  its  linear  outline,  depressed, 
deeply  sculptured  surface,  and  comparatively  large  eyes  and  scutellum 
(Insecta  Maderensia,  p.  315).  Of  the  characters  mentioned  it  differs 
from  indigenous  species  of  Phlceophagus  only  by  the  last  two. 

Since  all  the  living  material  of  this  species  perished,  it  is  not  yet  posi- 
tively proven  that  the  insect  actually  breeds  in  grain,  although  such  is 
with  little  doubt  the  case.  However  this  may  be,  the  published  state- 
ments of  the  writer  and  others  that  only  two  species  of  weevils  are 
injurious  to  stored  grain  in  this  country  must  now  be  modified  in  the 
light  of  the  recent  discovery  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Quaintance  of  the  anthribid 
weevil, Brachytarsus  alternatus  Say,  breeding  in  stored  corn, pease,  and 
cowpeas  (Ent.  News,  Vol.  VII,  p.  1,  etc.).  A  near  relative  of  the  latter 
species,  B.  variegatm  Say,  has  been  discovered  in  stored  wheat,  but  the 
injury  was  slight  and  apparently  confined  to  the  adults,  as  the  species 
is  a  fungus-feeder,  living  in  the  smut  of  wheat  and  corn. 

ON  THE  OCCURRENCE   OF  THE   GRAIN  MOTH    TINEA  GRANELLA 

L.)  IN  AMERICA. 

Tinea  granella  Linn.,  the  wolf,  or  little  grain  moth,  of  Europe  is  of 

such  rare  occurrence  on  this  continent  that  there  are  few  if  any  authen- 
tic records  of  injuries  by  it.  although  in  European  countries  it  is  classed 
with  insects  of  the  first  rank  in  point  of  injuriousness.  The  word 
"authentic"  is  used  for  the  reason  that  there  are  no  preserved  speci- 
mens of  the  moth,  so  far  as  can  be  learned,  to  substantiate  published 
statements  of  either  injuries  or  occurrence  in  cereals,  and  there  are 
good  grounds  for  the  belief  that  some  other  species  has  been  identified 
18  T.  granella  more  from  the  manner  of  its  work   than   from   the   moth. 


32 

Another  and  much  commoner  insect,  the  Indian-meal  moth  (Phdia 
interpunctella)  depredates  upon  grain  in  much  the  same  manner  as  T. 
granella,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  a  very  considerable  propor- 
tion of  alleged  cases  of  damage  by  granella  are  in  reality  due  to  the 
ravages  of  Plodia.  Few  collectors  of  insects  have  the  patience  and  skill 
to  properly  mount  specimens  of  these  microlepidoptera,  hence  it  might 
happen  that  even  unspread  moths  of  Plodia  would  be  mistaken  for 
Tinea  granella.  The  larva  and  pupa?,  though  only  superficially  alike, 
cannot  be  distinguished  except  by  rather  close  study  or  by  comparison. 

EARLY   ACCOUNTS    OF   HARRIS   AND   FITCH. 

The  earliest  account  that  can  be  found  in  American  literature  appears 
in  Harris's  Eeport  on  the  Insects  of  Massachusetts  Injurious  to  Vege- 
tation, published  in  1841.  This  is  a  compilation  from  European  works, 
as  appears  from  the  concluding  paragraph,  in  which  this  writer  says : 
"The  foregoing  account  will  probably  enable  the  readers  of  this  essay 
to  determine  whether  these  destructive  insects  are  found  in  our  own 
country.  From  various  statements,  deficient,  however,  in  exactness, 
that  have  appeared  in  some  of  our  agricultural  journals,  I  am  led  to 
think  that  this  corn-moth,  or  an  insect  exactly  like  it  in  its  habits,  pre- 
vails in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  that  it  has  generally  been  mistaken 
for  the  grain- weevil,  which  it  far  surpasses  in  its  devastations.  Many 
years  ago  I  remember  to  have  seen  oats  and  shelled  corn  (maize) 
affected  in  the  way  above  described,  and  have  observed  seed-corn 
hanging  in  the  ears,  to  have  been  attacked  by  insects  of  this  "kind,  the 
empty  chrysalids  of  which  remained  sticking  between  the  kernels;  but, 
for  some  time  past,  no  opportunity  for  further  investigation  has  offered 
itself." 

In  the  account  of  the  Angoumois  grain  moth  which  immediately  fol- 
lows, and  which  is  likewise  compiled,  it  is  perfectly  plain  that  Harris 
was  not  at  the  time  of  this  writing  familiar  with  the  work  of  either 
species. 

Fitch  gave  some  notes  on  Tinea  granella  in  the  Cultivator  of  January, 
1847,  which  the  writer  has  not  been  able  to  obtain,  but  Harris,  in  the 
Flint  edition  of  Insects  Injurious  to  Vegetation,  remarks:  "Dr.  Asa 
Fitch  has  favored  me  with  a  grain-moth,  obtained  in  a  flour-mill  at 
East  Greenwich,  N.  Y.,  which  agreed  with  the  descriptions  and  fig- 
ures of  the  European  Tinea  granella."  If  this  last  was  truly  granella, 
and  this  can  be  neither  affirmed  nor  denied,  it  is  somewhat  singular 
that  Fitch  does  not  mention  this  species  in  his  subsequent  reports  on 
"  insects  affecting  grain  crops." 

glover's  grain  moth. 

Passing  by  the  writings  of  Gaylord,  Brinkle,  and  Emmons,  in  which 
mention  is  made  of  T.  granella  as  unreliable,  for  the  reason  that  these 
writings  evince  no  evidence  of  original  observation,  we  come  to  the 


33 

works  of  Townend  Glover,  who.  in  1855,  wrote  of  "the  grain  moth 
(Tinea  ?)."  This  account  was  published  in  the  Patent  Office  Report  for 
1854  (pp.  65-66),  and  was  accompanied  by  plate  illustrations  of  the 
inseet  in  its  several  stages.  In  the  following  year  1.  <•.  L855,  p.  99 
the  same  writer  has  an  account  of  "the  corn  worm  Heliothes  '  .'"  also 
illustrated  and  identified  as  the  same  species  treated  in  tin-  \<A 
report.  Later,  in  Manuscript  Notes  from  my  Journal  of  Entomological 
Index,  which  appeared  in  1877.  the  same  writer  refers  t<>  this  species 
as  Tinea  granella.  The  moth  in  question  is  described  as  occurring  in 
the  cornfields  of  the  South,  and  as  attacking  corn  in  the  husk  '-some- 
what in  the  manner  of  the  Angoumois  moth."  It  is  stated  also  that  the 
larva*  "appear  to  attack  corn  out  of  the  field  as  well  as  in."  and  that 
the  inseet  lives  in  injured  cotton  bolls. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Schwarz,  who  sent  me  from  rIV\;tv 
specimens  of  the  larva*  of  this  moth,  both  in  cotton  bolls  and  in  corn 
from  the  field,  I  have  been  able  to  rear  and  identify  the  species.  It 
proves  to  be  Batraehedra  rileyi  Wals.,  which  was  described  from  speci- 
mens bred  from  cotton  bolls,  but  it  has  not,  so  far  as  1  am  aware, 
been  identified  hitherto  with  the  corn  plant.  This  moth  belongs  to  a 
different  family  of  Tineina  than  either  Sitotrogaor  Tinea,  and  it  should 
be  added  that  it  does  not  in  truth  greatly  resemble  these  moths  either 
in  appearance  or  in  habits.  It  may  be  easily  distinguished  from  these 
two  genera  by  its  narrower  fore- wings,  linear  hind- wings,  and  annnlated 
antennae. 

RECENT    REPORTS   OF   TINEA    GRANELLA. 

In  subsequent  years  Messrs.  Packard,  French,  Fernald,  and  other 
entomologists  mentioned  T.  granella  among  insects  injurious  to  stored 
grain  in  this  country,  but  without  furnishing  localities  or  original 
observations. 

In  the  American  Elevator  and  Grain  Trade  for  March  15,  1896,  Mr. 
W.  G.  Johnson  states  that  he  found  this  moth  "in  stored  wheat  from 
California,  and  on  one  oceasion  bred  the  adult  from  larva-  taken  from 
a  sack  of  corn  meal  purchased  at  a  local  grocery  store  at  San  Jose." 
At  the  present  writing  1  have  not  seen  specimens  of  the  moth  above 
reported,  though  Mr.  Johnson  has  endeavored  to  procure  them  for  me. 

In  response  to  a  circular  letter  recently  sent  out  by  Dr.  Howard  to 
economic  entomologists  and  others  in  regard  to  the  distribution  and 
injuriousness  of  certain  noxious  species  of  insects  in  the  United  States, 
word  was  received  from  seven  station  entomologists,  representing  afi 
many  States,  that  this  species  occurred  in  each  of  these  several  States. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  the  Capital  by  one  of  these  gentlemen 
the  writer  found  occasion  to  inquire  as  to  the  actual  facts  that  had  led 
U>  the  reported  occurrence  of  the  insect  in  his  State,  pointing  out  by 
specimens  the  character  of  the  work  of  Plodia  interpunctella,  with  the 
result  that  our  visitor  frankly  avowed  that  the  species  had  been 
identified  by  the  nature  of  its  damage  t<>  tin-  grain — that  i^.  by  the 
11226— No.  8 3 


34 

webbed-up  kernels,  and  that  specimens  of  the  moth  itself  were  not  at 
that  time  available.  A  second  station  entomologist  of  whom  the  writer 
made  inquiry  wrote  substantially  as  follows:  "I  am  afraid  that  this  is 
one  of  those  instances  where  a  man  speaks  on  traditional  knowledge 
and  without  making  any  serious  investigations.     My  case  is,  I  fear, 

very  similar  to 's,  because  on  looking  up  the  matter  I  find  that  I 

have  not  a  single  specimen  of  anything  that  I  would  be  willing  to  say 
is  Tinea  granella,  while  I  do  have  the  Plodia  inter punctella.  I  have 
simply  judged  by  what  I  have  seen  in  the  way  of  webbed-up  grain  and 
the  numerous  little  moths  that  I  have  seen  at  times  and  have  even 
occasionally  captured  and  looked  at  with  no  very  critical  eye.  In  other 
words,  I  have  absolutely  no  positive  evidence  of  the  occurrence  of  the 
insect  in  this  State,  but  I  do  feel  certain  that  there  is  a  species  different 
from  the  Plodia  and  differing  also  from  the  Angoumois  moth  which  is 
found  in  granaries  and  barns  in  this  State.  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  can 
not  help  you  to  a  decision  in  this  matter;  also  that  I  should  have  been 
led  to  report  the  presence  of  the  insect  from  a  mere  assumption.  My 
only  excuse  is  that  no  one  has  ever  before  questioned  the  occurrence 
of  the  insect  in  this  country  or  doubted  that  the  webbing  of  the  grain 
which  is  so  common  was  done  in  the  main  by  this  particular  species  of 
insect."' 

UNPUBLISHED  RECORDS  OF  THE  MOTH  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

In  the  record  books  of  this  Department  and  those  of  the  late  Dr. 
Eiley  are  five  entries  referring  to  this  species,  but  none  are  full  and 
some  are  inaccessible  at  the  present  writing.  These  note  references 
have  been  compared  with  specimens  in  the  National  Museum  bearing 
the  corresponding  numbers,  the  result  showing  that  all  the  biologic 
material  except  a  single  specimen  recently  unearthed  in  an  unexpected 
place  was  reared  from  fungi.  This  specimen  bears  the  following  label : 
"Bred  in  flour  barrel  from  S.  Lockwood,  Freehold,  N.  J."  One  series 
evidently  correctly  referred  to  Tinea  granella  is  labeled:  "On  ergot 
from  H.  Osborn,  Ames,  Iowa,  issued  February  9,  1887."  Mr.  Osborn 
has  recently  written  that  these  specimens  were  taken  from  exhibit  sam- 
ples in  the  agricultural  museum  of  the  Iowa  State  Agricultural  College, 
and  that  "they  were  doubtless  brought  from  a  distance,  possibly  from 
abroad,  and  would  not  have  any  weight  in  regard  to  the  species  beiug 
established  in  the  locality." 

Two  moths,  indistinguishable  from  granella,  were  reared  by  Mr.  Theo. 
Pergande  from  a  rotten  fungus  growng  on  the  Department  grounds  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  it  should  be  added  of  this  species  that  different 
European  writers  have  recorded  it  as  living  in  fungi  and  even  in  dried 
fruits. 

SPECIES  LIKELY  TO  BE  CONFUSED  WITH  TINEA  GRANELLA. 

There  are  several  other  species  of  Tinea,  that  occasionally  occur  in 
storehouses  or  which  from  their  habits  and  appearance  are  liable  to  be 


35 

mistaken  for  the  European  grain  moth.    Among  these  may  he  mentioned 
the  following: 

Tinea  pallescentella  Haw. — This  European  species  has  not   yet  been 
recorded  so  far  as  known  from  America,  but  is  liable  to  introduction  if 
not  already  established  here,  as  it  is  known  to  feed  in  the  larval  condi 
tion  upon  dry  refuse,  being  even  said  to  attack  grain. 

Tinea  fuscipunctella  Haw.  ( ?) — Either  this  or  a  closely  related  species 
was  reared  from  a  mass  of  material  taken  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Pratt  at  Lake- 
land, Md.,  from  old  barrels  in  a  woodshed,  in  which  turkeys  had  been 
kept,  and  containing  refuse  meal  and  other  feed,  hay,  and  the  excre- 
ments of  the  fowls.  European  authors  state  that  fuscipunctel la  lives 
in  different  sorts  of  dried  material,  which  includes  grass,  the  seeds  of 
which  it  devours,  and  larvae  or  pupae  from  which  the  adults  have  been 
reared  have  been  found  in  dust  in  cracks  of  the  flooring  of  rooms,  in 
the  nests  of  the  European  chimney  swallow,  and  in  the  hollow  stems  of 
parsnip  (Pastinaca  satira)  inhabited  by  Depressaria  heracliana.  The 
larvae  are  supposed  to  feed  upon  the  seeds  of  this  plant. 

Tinea  spp. — One  or  two  other  species  bred  with  the  above  in  the 
meal  and  other  refuse,  but  it  is  impossible  to  identify  them  at  present. 

Tinea  (Scardia)  cloacella  Haw. — This  species  so  closely  resembles 
granella  that  it  can  only  be  separated  from  it  by  the  closest  scrutiny. 
In  typical  specimens  the  head  is  whitish  ocherous  and  the  fore- wings 
ocherous  brown,  while  in  the  latter  both  head  and  fore- wings  are  whit- 
ish. It  appears  to  be  about  equally  common  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  to  live  exclusively  on  dry  fungi. 

Tinea  sp. — A  moth  closely  resembling  cloacella  in  the  ornamentation 
of  its  wings,  but  considerably  darker  than  is  usual  in  that  species,  was 
reared  in  abundance  from  a  lot  of  pods  of  Yucca  received  in  June- 
1893,  from  Mexico.  The  moths  issued  from  April  5  to  June  30  of  the 
following  year: 

Tinea  defectella  Zell. — This  species  somewhat  resembles  granella  in 
markings,  but  the  light  portions  of  the  fore-wings  are  white,  or  nearly 
so.  We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell  for  a  good  series  bred 
from  Polypoms  rimosus,  a  fungus  parasitic  on  Papains  fremontii}  from 
Las  Truces,  N.  Mex. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

The  question  of  the  presence  in  America  of  Tinea  granella,  it  must  be 
conceded,  rests  upon  rather  insecure  footing,  not  alone  because  of  the 
scarcity  of  specimens  and  of  reliable  published  records,  but  because  in 
all  likelihood  such  an  injurious  species  as  this  is  known  to  be  would,  if 
once  introduced,  make  itself  felt.  Considering  all  the  known  tacts  in 
the  case  is  it  not  probable  that  the  cases  cited  of  its  occurrence  here 
are  the  result  of  accidental  and  direct  importation  1  Until  the  contrary 
can  be  proved  it  would  appear  safest  to  believe  that  this  species  is  not 
permanently  established  in  this  country. 


36 
AN  INVASION  OF  THE  COFFEE-BEAN  WEEVIL. 

An  interesting  but  probably  not  unusual  case  lias  recently  come  to 
light  of  infestation  of  a  store  at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  a  little  weevil 
known  as  Arcccerus1  fasciculatus  DeG.,  and  which  from  the  specific 
name,  coffew,  by  which  it  has  until  comparatively  recent  times  been 
known,  we  may  call  the  coffee-bean  weevil. 

December  1G,  1895,  there  were  received  at  this  office  living  specimens 
of  the  beetle  which  had  been  taken  from  a  lot  of  dried  apples  purchased 
at  a  local  grocery,  where  they  were  reported  in  great  numbers.  The 
writer  called  at  the  store  at  which  this  purchase  was  made  and  learned 
that  there  had  been  an  invasion  of  the  insect  in  this  store  dating  from 
midsummer. 

Upon  my  pointing  out  the  insect  in  the  box  of  dried  apples  which 
they  had  evidently  taken  up  as  their  permanent  quarters  the  clerk 
promptly  identified  it  as  the  same  one  that  had  been  introduced  in  the 
store  in  an  invoice  of  Java  coffee  stated  to  be  of  the  finest  quality  and 
obtained  of  importers  in  New  York  City.     The  coffee  was  purchased 


Fig.  9. — Arcecerus  fasciculatus :  a,  larva;  b,  adult  beetle ;  c,  pupa— greatly  enlarged  (original). 

in  August,  and  soon  afterwards  the  beetles  were  noticed  poking  their 
heads  through  the  meshes  of  the  coffee  sacks  and  flying  and  crawling 
about  the  room.  They  were  particularly  abundant  during  September 
and  were  still  present  in  sufficient  numbers  in  the  middle  of  December 
to  be  noticeable,  although  not  so  abundant  or  so  active  as  to  cause 
serious  trouble.  They  were  described  as  having  been  a  constant  source 
of  annoyance  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, rather  cleanly  in  appearance  for  an  insect.  They  made  their  pres- 
ence felt  everywhere,  getting  into  everything  edible,  into  boxes  of 
dried  fruits  and  into  crackers,  showing  a  special  fondness  for  fig  cakes, 
and  even,  I  was  informed,  intruding  themselves  in  the  refrigerator  in 
search  of  food. 

As  no  general  account  or  good  illustration  of  this  insect  in  its  several 
stages  is  available,  the  above  figure,  with  a  brief  description  of  its 


^chonherr's  original  spelling  of  this  generic  name  is  Ara'cerus  (See  Cure.  Disp. 
Meth.,  p.  40;  Gen.  et  Sp.  Cure,  1833,  vol.  r,  p.  173).  In  1839  (1.  c.,  vol.  V,  p.  273)  it 
was  changed  to  Arceocerus,  and  this  latter  spelling  has  been  generally  adopted. 


37 

appearance  and  a  few  facts  concerning  its  history,  habits,  and  distribu- 
tion are  furnished. 

The  adult  beetle  is  shown  in  natural  position  at  fig.  !>.  The  form  of 
the  antenna'  will  sufficiently  distinguish  it  from  all  oth<  r  species  likely 
to  be  found  in  similar  locations.  The  head  is  prolonged  into  a  short, 
broad,  vertical  rostrum,  at  the  end  of  which  are  the  mandibles.  The 
groundcolor  is  dark  brown,  clothed  with  mottled  Light  and  dark  brown 
pubescence.  The  arrangement  of  light  and  dark  varies,  but  the  illustra- 
tion affords  an  idea  of  the  average  pattern.  The  length  varies  from  two 
to  three  sixteenths  of  an  inch  (2.5  to  4.o  mm.).  The  insect  has  Borne 
resemblance  to  the  Bruchidse,  with  winch  family  it  was  classed  in 
earlier  times,  but  is  now  placed  in  the  family  Antbribidae  which  is  given 
a  position  at  the  end  of  the  rhynchophorous  series  by  American  syste- 
matists  and  an  intermediate  position  between  the  Curculionidae  and 
Bruchida*  by  European  authors. 

The  beetle  is  a  very  active  little  creature,  running,  leaping,  and 
flying  readily  when  disturbed.  From  its  occurrence  in  cotton  bolls  in 
the  same  situations  as  the  cotton-boll  weevil,  Anthonomiw  grandis,  it  has 
been  often  mistaken  for  that  species. 

The  larva  exhibited  at  a  is  also  mistaken  for  that  of  the  boll  weevil. 
It  will  be  readily  distinguished,  however,  by  its  more  nearly  uniform 
breadth,  its  proportionately  larger  head,  and  by  other  characters  which 
will  become  apparent  in  comparing  the  accompanying  figure  (a)  with 
that  of  the  Anthonomus  published  in  Insect  Life  (Vol.  VII,  p.  296), 
and  in  circulars  Nos.  <>  and  14  of  this  Division.  The  colorof  cotton- 
boll-bred  larvae  and  pupa'  is  salmon  with  honey-yellow  head  and  dark 
brown  mandibles,  and  the  body  is  much  wrinkled  and  hairy.  The 
elytral  pads  in  the  pupa  terminate  in  a  peculiar  nnguiform  process. 
The  larva  and  pupa  of  Anthonomus  grandis  are  whitish,  and  compara- 
tively smooth  and  glabrous. 

The  species  was  first  discovered  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  ago, 
but.  I  am  informed,  a  popular  account  of  the  species  from  the  pen  of 
Sybilla  Merian  was  published  early  in  the  last  century. 

Having  been  early  distributed  by  commerce  to  all  quarters  of  the 
globe,  the  insect  is  cosmopolitan  and,  as  with  other  species  of  world- 
wide distribution,  it  has  been  described  under  various  synonyms. 

DeGeer's  original  description  appeared  in  177."),  and  in  17S1  Fabricius 
described  it,  giving  it  the  name  of  Bruchus  cacao,  from  its  food  plant, 
Theobroma  cacao,  the  nutritive  seeds  of  which  its  larva  inhabits.  Fabri- 
cius afterwards  described  it  under  the  name  of  Anthribus  coffeai,  from 
another  larval  food  plant,  Goffea  arabiea,  or  coffee  tree,  the  raw  berry 
of  which  it  also  infests.  It  is  reported  as  injurious  to  coffee  in  Brazil 
and  to  attack  a  species  of  ginger  native  to  China.  In  our  Southern 
States  it  is  associated  with  the  cotton  plant,  being  frequently  met  with 
in  diseased  bolls  and.  since  the  prominence  that  has  been  given  to  the 
cotton-boll  weevil,  is  often  mistaken,  as  already  stated,  for  that  Bpecies, 

Mr.  Schwarz  informs  me  that  this  insect  also  breeds  in  the  seeil  puds 


38 

of  the  so-called  coffee  weed  or  senna,  Cassia  occidentals  and  C.  obtusi- 
folia,  and  is  particularly  abundant  in  the  seeds  of  a  plant  known  in 
Florida  as  wild  indigo,  possibly  either  Indigo/era  tinctoria  or  /.  anil, 
species  formerly  cultivated  there  and  employed  in  the  manufacture  of 
indigo.  It  has  also  been  received  at  this  office  in  all  its  stages  in  a  dry 
orange  from  Florida. 

Living  specimens  were  found  by  the  writer  at  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion in  cacao  beans  from  Liberia  and  in  mace  in  the  Trinidad  and  Johore 
exhibits.  All  of  the  jars  containing  the  latter  commodity  had  been 
attacked.  There  is  also  a  record  of  this  weevil  having  been  uvery 
destructive  to  nutmegs." 

In  addition  to  the  localities  above  given  it  is  recorded  from  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  Japan,  Persia,  New  Holland,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
The  species  is  obviously  tropical,  aud  thought  by  M.  Fauvel  to  have 
come  originally  from  India. 

The  beetles  often  occur  in  our  large  commercial  cities  and  seaports, 
but  it  is  improbable  that  the  species  will  ever  become  completely  accli- 
matized (i.  e.,  to  an  outdoor  life)  north  of  the  cotton  belt  for  lack  of 
appropriate  food.  The  experience  of  the  past  few  months,  however, 
have  shown,  somewhat  to  the  writer's  surprise,  that  the  insect  breeds 
rather  freely  in  dried  apples,  so  there  is  some  slight  danger  of  its  find- 
ing a  permanent  footing  in  such  storehouses  as  it  may  invade. 

PARASITES  OF  FLOUR  AND  MEAL  MOTHS. 

The  prominence  that  has  been  given  to  that  scourge  of  the  flouring 
mill,  the  Mediterranean  flour  moth,  Ephestia  kuehniella  Zell.,  by  its 
recent  discovery  in  injurious  abundance  in  mills  in  the  States  of 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  as  first  announced  in  the  columns  of  the 
American  Miller  for  May  and  December,  1895,  and  the  fact  that  a  new 
parasite  has  been  found  to  prey  upon  this  insect  in  California,  renders 
it  timely  that  certain  memoranda  concerning  the  known  parasites  of 
this  destructive  pest  be  brought  together  for  record. 

Parasites  have  also  been  reared  from  other  moths  occurring  in  flour 
and  meal,  and  from  what  is  known  of  their  host  relations  it  is  fairly 
certain  that  they  prey  indiscriminately  on  moths  of  related  habits,  and 
some,  and  perhaps  all,  will  in  time  be  found  to  attack  also  the  flour 
moth. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  notes  I  am  indebted  to  Messrs.  Ashmead 
and  Coquillett  for  determinations  of  Hymenoptera  and  Diptera,  respec- 
tively, and  for  other  data. 

PARASITES  OF  THE  MEDITERRANEAN  FLOUR  MOTH. 

Bracon  (Hadrobraeon)  hebetor  Say. — In  Entomological  News  for 
December,  1895  (Vol.  YI,  p.  324),  Mr.  W.  G.  Johnson  makes  the  first 
mention  of  the  rearing  of  this  species,  together  with  another  which 
Mr.  Ashmead  at  present  considers  a  variety  of  the  same,  from  Ephestia 
kuehniella  from  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


39 


The  value  of  one  of  the  parasites  of  this  moth  as  a  counteractive 
against  the  overproduction  of  its  destructive  host  is  exemplified  in  the 
instance  cited  by  Mr.  Sydney  T.  Klein  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Ento- 
mological Society  of  London  for  L887  (proa,  p.  liii)  and  referred  to 
elsewhere,  wherein  it  is  related  that  a  species  which  he  states  belonged 
to  the  Ichneumonidae  was  instrumental  in  checking  the  ravages  of  the 
Hour  moth  in  London  warehouses  which  it  had  invaded,  and  this  when 
other  means  employed  to  dislodge  it  had  laded,  dust  which  species 
this  might  have  been  is  not  quite  clear,  but  evidently  either  Braeon 
brevicornis  or  Chremylus  rubiginosus,  and  presumably  the  former,  as 
Mr.  Archibald  Giekie  is  quoted  (Bull.  Stances  Soc.  Bnt.  Prance,  1893, 
clxxviii)as  having  observed  the  complete  destruction  of  the  Ephestia 
by  this  parasite.  This  record  is  said  to  have  been  published,  together 
with  illustrations  of  both  sexes  of  the  parasite,  in  the  County  Middle- 
sex "Natural  and  Sciences''  Society  of  November  8,  L887. 

February  14,  L893,  Mr.  Ooquillett  received  from  Mr.  J.  F.  Mclntyre, 
county  commissioner  of  horticulture  of  Ventura  County,  Oal.,  speci- 
mens of  Ephestia  kuehniella  with  living  braconid  larvae  and  their  white 
silken  cocoons  found  in 
beehives  at  Fillmore, 
that  county.  February 
20  an  Ephestia  larva  was 
received  from  the  same 
source  with  a  braconid 
larva  attached  to  its 
body.  January  8,  L895, 
we  again  received  this 
species  from  the  same 
source,  in  pieces  of  old 
honeycomb  infested  by 
the  bee  moth,  Galleria 
mellonella  Linn.,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  latter  being 
parasitized  by  it.  Two 
of  the  male  parasites 
were  noticed  feeding  upon  the  wax.  and  one  of  the  females,  after  copu- 
lation, at  once  entered  one  of  the  cells  near  the  caterpillars. 

November  24  a  dead  female  was  taken  by  the  writer  from  a  sort  of 
receptacle  that  had  been  formed  by  its  host  in  an  English  walnut 
(Juglans  regia).  The  host  caterpillar  was  dry  and  so  badly  shriveled 
as  to  be  unrecognizable;  but  after  boiling  it  and  then  subjecting  it  to 
the  actmn  of  dilute  acetic  acid  I  was  enabled  to  recognize  it  as  the 
larva  of  a  moth  which  I  have  identified  as  Ephestia  <-<tltirit<  ll«  /ell.  and 
which  later  bred  from  this  same  lot  of  nuts. 

A  month  later  we  received  a  very  full  series  of  the  insect  from  tin- 
Atlanta  Exposition,  where  they  were  collected  in  jars  of  cacao  brans 
from  Maracaibo.  Venezuela,  and  Trinidad,  West   Indies,  infested  with 


Fig. 10. 


Hadrobracon  hebetor:  adult  female— antenna  of  male  al 
left— greatly  enlarged  (original). 


40 

botli  Ephestia  cahiritella  and  the  Indian-meal  moth,  Plodia  interpunc- 
tella  Hbn.  In  one  lot  of  these  beans  the  meal  moth,  recognized  by  its 
larva,  was  the  only  insect  present.  I  had  previously  reared  the  para- 
site from  grain  infested  with  this  moth. 

In  Volume  VII  of  Insect  Life  we  made  mention  of  the  rearing  of 
this  insect  at  Jamaica  Plain,  Mass.,  from  the  same  host,  but  unfortu- 
nately the  species  was  erroneously  cited  under  the  specific  name 
honestor  Say. 

In  1888  Mr.  Ashmead  described  iu  the  Proceedings  of  the  United 
States  National  Museum  (Vol.  XII,  \).  021)  a  male  braconid,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  Bracon  juglandis.  It  was  reared  by  Mr.  Albert 
Koebele  from  an  unknown  lepidopterous  larva,  referred  to  in  Insect 
Life  (Vol.  II,  p.  349)  as  doubtfully  tineid,  infesting  old  English  walnuts 
at  Los  Angeles,  Gal.  This  host  caterpillar  was  probably  either  Ephestia 
cahiritella  or  Plodia  inter punctella. 

Mr.  Ashmead  informs  me  that  this  form,  the  dark  one,  is  unques- 
tionably the  same  species  as  hebetor,  although  it  does  not  agree  in 
colorational  detail  with  Say's  description.  He  believes  that  the  marked 
varietal  forms  of  this  very  variable  species  should  be  indicated,  and 
therefore  suggests  the  retention  of  the  name  juglandis  as  a  variety. 

Say  described  the  female  of  hebetor  with  fourteen  and  the  male  with 
twenty-two-jointed  antennae.     Andre  gives  brevicornis :  9  ,  14-1 7  joints ; 
$  ,  20-26  joints.     In  the  series  before  me  the  joints  vary  iroin  14  to  15 
and2<>  to  22. 

In  comparatively  small  series  of  this  species,  even  in  what  appears 
to  be  a  single  generation  breeding  out  at  the  same  time,  a  great  indi- 
vidual variation  in  color  is  displayed.  From  the  circumstances  of 
rearing,  aside  from  the  lack  of  observable  structural  differences,  I  am 
convinced  that  this  variation  is  not  specific,  the  more  so  that  this 
opinion  is  shared  by  Mr.  Ashmead.  The  coloration  varies  from  almost 
entirely  honey-yellow  to  nearly  black.  A  common  type,  as  regards 
the  arrangement  of  dark  and  light,  is  shown  in  the  illustration  (fig.  10). 

Bracon  brevicornis  is  recorded  as  having  bred  from  the  larvae  of 
Ephestia  Tcuehniella,  E.  elutella  and  Myelois  ceratoniai,  from  Dioryctria 
abietella,  and  from  the  galls  of  Andricus  terminalis.  The  hosts  enu- 
merated are  not  native  and  the  parasite  must  necessarily  be  cos- 
mopolitan, and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  may  be  the  same  as  Bracon 
brevicornis  Wesm.,  with  the  descriptions  of  which  it  substantially 
agrees.  Say's  description  appeared  in  1835,  and  therefore  his  name 
antedates  Wesmael's,  which  followed  three  years  later  (Nouv.  Mem. 
Acad.  Brux.,  Vol.  XI,  1838). 

Chremylus  rubiginosus  Nees  is  mentioned  in  Insect  Life  (Vol.  II,  p. 
260)  as  parasitic  on  Ephestia  kuchniclla.  It  has  also  been  raised  from 
the  European  grain  moth,  Tinea  granella  (Eutom.,Vol.  XIV,  p.  Ill), 
and  is  said  by  Curtis  and  others  to  frequently  occur  with  the  common 
European  bean  weevil. Bruchus  rufimanus.  Bruchus  seminarius  L. 
and  B.  grandrius  Schh.  and  the  clothes  moth,  Tinea  pellionella  L.,  are 


41 

also  added  as  hosts  by  Andre  (Spec.  Ilyin.  d'Eur.,  pt.  iv,  p.  254,  1888  . 
and  Motschulsky  as  long  ago  as  1 853  (Etudes  Entomologiques,  is.~>;;, 
}>.  22)  mentions  Hormiun  rubiginosus  Nees  as  a  parasite  of  Ernobiu* 
mollis  F.,  a  ptinid  now  common  to  both  continents  and  commonly 
found  in  old  houses  in  the  Old  World.  The  species  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  recognized  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  in  Europe 
it  is  widely  distributed. 

Apanteles  ephestke  Baker  was  described  in  Entomological  News,  June, 
189,*)  (Vol.  VI,  pp.  201-202),  from  specimens  reared  at  Fort  Collins, 
Colo.,  "from  the  larvae  of  Ephestia  Jcuehniella  working  in  honeycomb, 
the  Hies  emerging  November  22." 

PARASITES   OF   THE    INDIAN-MEAL    MOTH. 

The  two  parasites  of  the  Indian-meal  moth  I  Plodia  interpunetella) 
mentioned  below  should  be  added  to  those  already  alluded  to  as  preying 
upon  this  and  other  allied  species. 

Omorga  frument aria  Bond,  was  first  reared  from  this  moth  in  July. 
181)4,  which  was  found  breeding  by  Mr.  Prank  Benton  in  bran  at 
Berwyn  Heights,  Md.  Subsequently  it  was  reared  from  the  caterpil- 
lars of  the  same  moth  living  on  dried  prunes  in  a  local  grocery,  the 
imagos  issuing  from  July  9  to  September  20  and  continuing  to  issue 
whenever  the  moths  appeared.  One  jar  of  middlings  that  had  con- 
tained large  numbers  of  moths  and  their  larvae  in  the  fall  of  1895  for 
some  time  produced  nothing  but  parasites,  and  I  had  nearly  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  moth  had  been  exterminated  and  the  para- 
site had  then  died  of  starvation,  but  the  latter  only  was  true,  as  a  few 
moths  appeared  toward  the  end  of  the  following  June.  At  the  same 
time  a  number  of  these  same  parasites  appeared  in  neighboring  jars 
containing  other  moths,  viz,  Ephestia  cahiritella.  In  one  instance  the 
parasite  might  have  been  brought  in  in  English  walnuts  containing 
its  host.  In  the  other  case  the  parasite  must  have  thrust  its  eggs 
through  the  cloth  covering  of  the  jar,  as  it  contained  only  fresh 
material  put  in  in  April  and  tightly  covered. 

The  species  was  described  by  Rondani  (Bull.  Soc.  Ent.  Ital..  Vol. 
IX.  p.  109)  in  1887  under  the  genus  Gampoplex  from  material  reared 
from  Tinea  granella  in  Italy. 

What  is  probably  the  tirst  mention  of  a  parasite  of  this  moth  is  by 
B.  D.  Walsh  in  the  Practical  Entomologist  of  July,  1867  (Vol.  [I,  p.  110). 
lie  says  that  '-while  in  the  larva  state  if  is  preyed  upon  to  ;i  very  con- 
siderable extent  by  a  small  Ichneumon  My."  This  was  probably  either 
the  above  species  or  the  Hadrobracon. 

Limneria  ephestia:  Ashm.  has  been  recorded  in  Vol.  Ill  of  Insect  Life 
(p.  158)  as  also  having  bred  from  Plodia  interpunetella  "feeding  oil  wax, 
Missouri,  May,  1873,''  and  from  a  noctuid  pupa  from  Texas.  It  was  tirst 
mentioned  as  /,.  <}>}irsii<c  Riley  MS.,  bul  the  species  was  not  described 
until  1800  (Trans.  Amer.  Entom.  Soc.,  Vol.  XXIII.  p.  !!»:»  . 


42 

PARASITES  OF  THE  MEAL  SNOUT-MOTH. 

Apanteles  carpatus  Say. — This  little  braconid  was  reared  m  numbers 
from  refuse  hay,  meal,  and  other  feed  infested  with  Pyralis  farinalis,  a 
large  quantity  of  which  was  kindly  brought  me  from  Lakeland,  Md.,  by 
Mr.  F.  0.  Pratt,  of  this  division.  A  cocoon  of  this  moth  was  noticed 
that  was  unusually  firmly  attached  to  the  jar,  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
silk  being  used  to  completely  conceal  the  inclosed  chrysalis.  This 
chrysalis  was  found  to  have  been  perforated  near  the  head,  the  hole 
corresponding  in  size  to  that  of  a  parasitic  larva  of  the  species  in  ques- 
tion. The  parasites  began  issuing  in  August,  being  present  in  the 
largest  numbers  at  the  time  of  the  greatest  abundance  of  their  host, 
viz,  during  the  hot  weather  toward  the  closing  days  of  September  and 
the  1st  of  October,  and  disappearing  at  the  end  of  the  latter  month 
with  the  decrease  of  the  moths.  It  reappeared  in  our  rearing  jars 
together  with  its  host  the  following  April. 

Two  other  household  hosts  are  known  for  this  species:  The  clothes 
moths  Tinea  pellionella  and  Trichophaga  tapetiella  (Tinea  tapetzella). 
The  former  was  reared  at  Adrian,  Mich.,  June  17, 1885,  the  latter  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  in  July,  as  has  already  been  recorded  in  Insect  Life  (Vol. 
Ill,  p.  15). 

Carcelia  leucanice  Kirkp. — From  the  same  rubbish  from  which  was 
obtained  the  preceding  parasite  two  dipterous  larvae  were  taken 
August  17.  One  was  placed  in  alcohol,  the  other  in  ajar  of  moistened 
earth,  in  which  it  immediately  buried  itself,  the  living  imago  appear- 
ing September  10.  This  is  a  common,  well-known  parasite  of  the  army 
\>  orm,  Leucania  unipuncta. 

Clausicella  tarsalis  Ooq.,  another  tachinid  described  in  the  Journal  of 
the  New  York  Entomological  Society  of  June,  1895  (Vol.  Ill,  p.  56), 
from  Illinois,  bred  in  upwards  of  a  dozen  individuals  from  the  same 
material. 

Unfortunately  it  can  not  be  positively  asserted  that  the  two  tachinid 
flies  above  mentioned  are  parasitic  on  P.farinalis,  but  such  is  probably 
the  case,  as  the  true  genus  Tachina  is  known  to  parasitize  lepidopterous 
larvae,  and  genera,  nearly  related  to  Clausicella,  have  the  same  habits. 

Melanophora  roralis  V.  d.  W.,  a  dexid,  is  mentioned  by  Brauer  (Zwei- 
fluegler  d.  Kais.  Mus.  zu  Wien,  Yol.  Ill,  p.  76,  1883)  as  parasitic  on 
this  moth. 

Spalangia  rugosicollis  Ashm. — A  single  individual  of  this  rare  chal- 
cidid  was  also  reared  from  the  Pyralis-iufested  material,  but  as  other 
species  of  this  genus  are  known  to  infest  Diptera  it  will  most  likely 
prove  to  be  parasitic  on  one  of  the  two  tachinids  occurring  with  it. 
This  opinion  is  strengthened  by  the  discovery  with  it  of  a  puparium  of 
about  the  same  size  as  the  Tachina,  which  shows  an  exit  hole  that  cor- 
responds well  with  what  would  be  made  by  the  hymenopteron. 

Exochus  mansuetor  Grav. — This  ichneumonid  is  mentioned  as  a  para- 
site of  P.  farinalis  in  England  by  Eev.  J.  Hellins  in  his  account  of 


43 

the  life  history  of  its  host  (Ent.  Mo.  Mag.,  Vol.  XXL  p.  249)  and  as 
having  been  obtained  from  the  pupa  of  Tinea  fuseipunctella  Haw.  by 
Dr.  Fr.  Loew  (Verhdl.  zool.-bot.  Ver.  W  ion,  Vol.  XT,  p.  393,  L861  . 

An  ichneumonid  was  reared  by  the  writer  with  P.farinalis,  but  the 
few  bred  specimens  were  unfortunately  lost,  and  the  species  therefore 
remains  unidentified.  It  is  possible  that  it  was  the  same  above 
mentioned. 

Perilitus  ictericns  Nees.,  a  European  braconid,  is  recorded  by  Rondaui 
(Bull.  d.  Soc.  Ent.  ltaliana,  Vol.  IV,  p.  58)  as  a  parasite  of  this  moth. 

The  host  moths  with  their  parasites  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

LIST  OF  HOSTS  AND  THEIR  PARASITES. 

Hosts.  Parasites. 

Ephestia  kuehniella  Zell HadrobracoD  hebetor  8ay. 

Syn.  [  ?] :  Bracon  brevicornia  Xees. 

Apan  teles  ephestiie  Baker. 

Chreinylus  rubiginosns  Nees. 

Ephestia  elntella  Ilb» Hadrobracon  hebetor  Say. 

Ephestia  cahiritella  Zell Hadrobracon  hebetor  Say. 

Oraorj^a  frunieutaria  L'ond. 
Plodia  interpnnctella  Hbn Hadrobracon  hebetoi  Say. 

( tmorga  frunieutaria  Hond. 

Limneria  ephestiae  Ashm. 
Pyralis  farinalis  Linn Apanteles  carpatus  Say. 

Perilitus  icteriens  Need. 

Exochus  mansuetor  draw 

I'n known  ichneumonid. 

Spalangiarugicollis  Ashm  (secondary). 

Melanopliora  roralis  V.  d.  W.  (I)ip.j. 

Clausicella  tarsalis  Coq.  (Dip.). 

Carcelia  leucanisB  Kirkp.  (Dip.). 
Tinea  granella  Linn Chreinylus  rubiginosns  Net  9. 

Omorga  frunieutaria  liond. 

Hemitelcs  tinesB  Bond. 
Galleria  mellonella  Linn Hadrobracon  hebetor  Say. 

A  FOREIGN  PARASITE  OF  THE  GRAIN  WEEVILS. 

At  the  present  time  only  a  single  hymenopterous  parasite  is  known 
to  infest  the  grain  weevils  in  the  United  States.  This  Is  the  species 
described  by  Dr.  Howard  in  the  Annual  Report  of  this  I  department  for 
1880  (p.  273)  under  the  name  Pteromalus  calandrce.  This  species  is  now 
referred  to  the  genus  Meraporus,  and  as  it  is  obviously  an  introduced 
cosmopolite,  like  its  host,  it  may  prove  to  be  synonymous  with  some 
previously  described  species. 

lu  Volume  XII  of  the  Entomologist  for  February,  l ^ 7 '. >  (p.  17 },  Mr, 
E.  A.  Fitch,  in  speaking  of  the  parasites  of  the  granary-inhabiting 
Calandras,  says:  "  I  have  met  with  two  (probably  three)  species  of 
Chalcididse,  and  Curtis  knew  another."  Without  at  present  entering 
into  the  subject  as  to  what  all  these  different  specie-  are,  I  will  men- 
tion the  one  that  3Ir.  Fitch  probably  had  particularly  in  view. 


44 

November  10,  1896,  a  quart  jar  of  Indian  corn  from  Peru  was  trans- 
mitted to  this  office  by  direction  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  this 
Department,  which  upon  examination  proved  to  be  infested  primarily 
bj'  the  rice  weevil  (Calandra  oryza).  A  parasitic  hymenopteron  of  the 
family  Chalcididae  was  present  in  some  abundance,  somewhat  outnum- 
bering its  host.  Specimens  were  referred  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Ashmead,  who 
identified  it  as  the  species  described  and  figured  by  Westwood  in  1874 
(Thesaurus  Entomologicus  Oxoniensis,  p.  137,  PI.  XXV,  fig.  10)  as 
Ghtctospila  elegans.  It  is  a  member  of  the  subfamily  Spalangiiuae  and 
some  confusion  exists  as  to  the  place  that  it  may  hold.  Mr.  Ashmead, 
however,  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  genus  Clmetospila,  of  which  this 
species  is  the  type,  must  fall.  According  to  Westwood,  Chretospila  dif- 
fers from  Cerocephala  "in  the  short  peduncle  to  the  abdomen  and  the 
eight-jointed  antenna},  these  organs  in  Cerocephala  being  distinctly 
ten-jointed,  the  eighth  and  ninth  being  equal  in  size  to  the  two  pre- 
ceding joints." 

A  reasonable  excuse  for  this  opinion  is  found  in  the  fact  that  West- 
wood  very  evidently  had  at  most  not  more  than  one  or  two  specimens 
of  but  one  sex  (female)  at  the  time  of  his  description.  Examination  of 
a  good  series  shows  that  the  antennae  of  the  species  are  normally  ten- 
jointed,  although  in  some  individuals  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  more 
than  eight  joints.  There  are  several  well-defined  joints  and  a  club.  In 
some  individuals,  of  females  as  well  as  males,  three  segments  in  the 
club  may  be  discerned  under  a  good  magnifying  power;  in  some  there 
appear  to  be  but  two;  while  in  others  there  is  hardly  any  visible  evi- 
dence of  segmentation  or  suture.  Westwood,  in  this,  as  in  so  many 
other  cases,  evidently  considered  the  club  to  consist  of  a  single  joint 
and  so  figured  it. 

The  type  or  types  were  evidently  all  winged.  The  females  of  the 
present  lot  were  winged,  but  the  majority  of  the  males  are  apterous 
and  some  have  aborted  wings. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  not  be  able  to  consult  Westwood's 
work,  it  might  be  remarked  that  the  body  of  this  insect  is  shining 
dark  brown,  variegated  with  lighter  brown,  with  green  bronze  and 
blue  luster.  The  head  is  divided  in  front,  so  as  to  give  the  appearance 
of  being  three-horned.  The  fore-wings,  in  the  female,  reach  to  the  end 
of  the  short  ovipositor.  Just  beyond  the  middle  is  a  nearly  circular 
infuscated  fascia  and  the  optical  moiety  is  fringed  on  the  outer  margin 
with  fine  hairs.  The  peculiar  fascicles  of  short  erect  bristles  at  the 
junction  of  the  subcostal  vein  with  the  costa,  to  which  Westwood  called 
especial  attention  as  not  being  present  to  his  knowledge  in  any  other 
species,  according  to  Mr.  Ashmead,  are  at  times  also  present  in  other 
species  of  Cerocephala.  The  length  of  this  species  is  variable,  but  it 
does  not  often  reach  more  than  1.5  mm.  For  further  particulars  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Ashmead's  Synopsis  of  the  SpalangiinaB  (Proc. 
Ent.  Soc.  Wash.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  27-37). 


45 

Westwood  does  not  designate  either  the  host  or  the  geographical 
habitat  of  this  species,  but  from  his  description  and  colored  illustra- 
tion, together  with  the  appended  note  on  its  occurrence,  which  is 
summed  up  in  the  legend  ''Habitat  parasiticeiu  ZeaB  Maydis  semiui- 

bus,"  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  the  specimens  in  hand  are  referable 
to  the  Westwood  species.  It  is  in  all  probability  identical  also  with 
the  species  considered  by  Fitch  (1.  c.)  to  be  either  GerocepJiala  formid- 
formis  Westw.,  "or  a  very  closely  allied  species,"  bred  from  one  or 
both  of  the  grain -feeding  Calandras  in  England.  It  is  not  the  true 
Theocolax  formiciformis,  as  I  have  been  able  to  verify  by  comparing  the 
Peruvian  specimens  with  Westwood's  figure,  as  well  as  with  an  exam- 
ple of  the  latter  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Ashmead.  The  formiciformis 
was  bred  from  "dead  timber  flooring  infested  with  the  larva-  of 
Anobium  striatum"  a  European  household  beetle  (Thesaurus,  etc., 
p.  138),  and  from  worm-eaten  ash  infested  with  Hylesinus  fraxini 
(Entomologist,  1.  c).  From  the  description  and  the  hosts  given  it 
is  evidently  a  distinct  species. 

Since  the  above  was  written  the  same  species  was  recognized  in  a  lot 
of  sweet-pea  seeds  from  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  infested  with  the  drug-store 
beetle,  Sitodrepa  panicea.  As  this  was  the  only  beetle  living  in  these 
seeds  at  the  time,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  this  Cerocephala  is 
a  parasite  of  it.  It  is  equally  certain  that  this  parasite  has  already 
been  introduced  in  this  country.  It  may  be  noted  here  that  the 
Pteromalus  calandrce  of  Howard  is  known  to  prey  upon  both  Calandra 
and  Sitodrepa. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  FLORIDA 


3  1262  09216  6189 


